


You Can't Take The Sky From Me

by Jumpyrope



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Firefly AU, I'm sorry I have to make it about these two I can't not, M/M, i just finished watching firefly and I got inspiration, its not gay if it's in space, tags subject to change in the future
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2018-11-30 06:39:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11458107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jumpyrope/pseuds/Jumpyrope
Summary: The mysterious Joker, The Phantom Thief. Few know him, many know of him. As hard to catch as a shadow in a pitch black room, the thief escaped capture for years.Akira Kurusu, a guy who just wanted to help somebody. Many know him, few actually know him. He had his life torn from him, and now he is going to take it back. Nothing will stop him, he flies solo with his ship.And then a little escape pod crashes into his life and changes all of that.





	1. Not Alone Out Here

**Author's Note:**

> Uh the summary is really long but it sounds cool to me so whatever. But yeah I love akiryu and I love firefly so I decided to write a fanfic based in that universe. Not canon compliant with Firefly or Serenity, just based on the universe. Enjoy?

There was nothing around for miles, nothing for lightyears, even. Just a man and his ship, floating in space. And a cargo deck filled with crates of good clean medicines taken straight from the top hospital in the solar system. 

Akira Kurusu, the captain, pilot, mechanic, and crew of this ship, scanned around him for as far as his radar could reach. When nothing turns up, he sighs in relief, then allows a wide grin to cross his face. He stepped back from the controls and spun on one foot, a quick pirouette before he left the cockpit. He had turned the main power off to conserve energy, so he walked down the hall lit by the red emergency lights. He couldn't help but step into a skip, spinning again when he gets into the living area of his ship. 

His abundant joy was easily warranted; Akira had just pulled off a huge heist without injury. Well, without his own personal injury. The people who hired him to help with the heist got a little injured. Not his fault, of course. Not his fault directly, at least. Whatever, they knew who they were hiring. They knew the risks. They hired him anyway, and the outlaw Akira Kurusu, codenamed Joker, lived up to his title of Phantom Thief as he disappeared into the sky while his employers got arrested. Really, he was thankful for them. Their fighting with the Feds and subsequent arrest provided the perfect distraction for Akira to get away with the goods. 

He side steps on the open floor, jutting a hip out as he lifts his arms. He twirls again, hopping into another movement carried by his feet and he dances in place, silently listening to the music in his head. 

"Joker!" A robotic call from the speaker on the wall stops Akira's movements. He doesn't say anything, just listens as the voice continues.  
"I don't want to interrupt your little dance party, but we should get moving again. The sooner we deliver this cargo, the sooner we get paid. Then we can dance for as long as you want." 

Akira smiles, shaking his head as he heads back up to the cockpit.  
"You can't dance, Morgana." He responds, speaking to the very ship he was piloting. The speakers make a loud and annoyed static sound, but say nothing else. 

He sets course into nothingness. Nothing for miles, just a man and his ship. Just the elusive Phantom Thief Joker and his ship, a model 5 Mona that he programmed with an AI named Morgana. Just the two of them. 

And another smaller ship that suddenly popped up on the radar and sped in their direction. 

"Shit." Akira breathes out the word, taking the controls and moving. The other ship continued in the same direction, and Morgana moved to the side far enough that the ship zipped right past them. Moments later, he received a distress call. 

"Joker! Aren't you gonna answer?" Morgana chirps to life after Akira stares at the request to video communicate for a few moments. He pauses but says nothing in response, reaching to dismiss the call. 

Before Akira presses the button, the screen changes to tell him it was connecting. 

"Morgana!" He yells angrily while the AI laughs. "I can turn you off, you know! I'd do it!" The video finishes connecting. Akira's eyes widen as he hears a "hello?" He looks back at the screen but it is very grainy and hard to see who was on the other side. He says nothing. 

"Hey uh, so I think I figured out how to slow this thing down so I'm just sittin' here way over to your uh," the voice pauses a moment. "I'm a distance away from you." The voice says unhelpfully. Akira hopes his face isn't clear for the other guy because he just rolled his eyes so hard. 

"So? What do you want me to do?" The pilot asks, tapping impatiently on the console. 

"Pick me up? I sure as shit ain't got enough energy to get to another planet and I'd be lucky to run into anyone else out here. You gotta help, man!" The person on the other side pleads and the screen clears up just a little. All Akira can make out really is a bright yellow before it fizzles out again. 

"Why should I help you?" He asks, sounding bored. 

"Uh, cuz you're a big friendly ship and I'm a dude in an escape pod that's gonna die if you leave me?" The guy on the other side sounds a little desperate. 

"And how do I know you're not with the Feds, or going to try to kill me and take my ship?" Akira kept his voice flat and unemotional, the complete opposite of this guy. 

"Once again, I remind you. Tiny little escape pod. I'm not with the Feds dude I'm running away from 'em!"  
"Hm." The captain of Morgana just hummed thoughtfully, the noise barely being picked up by the receiver. 

"Oh come on! I dunno why you'd think I'd try and take over your ship, I'm just one guy! I dunno how much crew you have! I don't wanna say please, man. I don't like begging but I am like, really desperate right now." Akira felt a smirk forming on his face. 

"You sure are desperate. Tell you what. I'll let you on my ship, but you gotta earn your keep around here. If you can't do that, I'll drop you off at the nearest planet I can find." The offer seems to be acceptable. 

"Oh man, yeah! Yeah of course! Thank you!" The voice sounded happy, an emotion Akira hadn't seen in another person for a long time. 

Morgana tracks the pod down and opens the docking bay, and soon enough the escape pod door opens. Akira is standing there as Joker, tailcoat and mask on, gloves and everything. Out of the door falls a human, presumably male, with short blonde hair. Akira looks further at him and sees that his one leg is wrapped with an obviously hasty splint. 

"Your leg is broken." He comments as the other sits up. 

"Yeah." He says, trying to put his good leg and arms under him to stand up. 

"You didn't mention you were injured." 

"Would you have left me if I told you that?" The person stands up, wobbling on one leg. Akira doesn't answer. When the new guy's brown eyes finally look up at his savior, his jaw drops. 

"Oh my god. You're that- that Phantom Thief guy, ain'tcha? You gotta be joking!" He sounds a little impressed and a little scared at the same time. The Phantom Thief laughs lightly. 

"Joker, actually. The name's Joker." He sticks out a gloved hand for the guest to shake. Brown eyes glance between the hand and the face of his savior before he reaches out to grasp it. Akira gives his arm a good tug, knocking him off balance and pulling the guy towards him. He catches him before he falls, dipping him back like they were dancing, dramatic as ever. He smirks down at his guest as the other looks up at him with a stunned expression. 

"Now you know who I am, who are you?" Akira asks, smiling wider as he watches the guy in his arm's face redden. 

"N-nobody. I'm just a guy. You can call me Ryuji, though." The hesitant smile Ryuji offers is honestly cute, and Akira starts to think he might like his new guest. That's a dangerous feeling. 

The graceful thief pulls the boy up standing again, forcing him into a twirl before he hooks an arm under both legs and his back, carrying him bridal style. 

"Lets get you to the med-room." Akira starts walking while Morgana disconnects the escape pod. Ryuji just nods his head wordlessly, looking somewhat dazed. 

Akira places his guest down on the examination table, asking Ryuji where he came from and why. 

"I'm from the space station, in the Shibuya section. I barely got away..." Ryuji explains as Akira unwraps his leg. 

"Uh huh. Did anyone follow you?" The Phantom Thief looks up, grey eyes holding faint worry in them. 

"No, no! I don't think so. I didn't see anybody. Think they gave up when I got in the escape pod and blasted away." He shows this in a motion of him moving one hand pointing a finger away from his fist, making a "pshoo" noise. He bends to the side and accidentally bumps his leg on the side of the table he was sitting on. "Haaahhhh shit." Ryuji winches, closing his eyes. "Not smart." Akira has to hold back a laugh.

"Yeah, that wasn't smart. Don't move." He touches the leg, the break seeming to be in the calf, not above the knee. But, he isn't a doctor, and has no medical expertise. Basically, this guy's leg was totally screwed as far as Akira knows. 

"How did this happen? And how long ago?" Akira pokes the leg again and Ryuji kicks him with the other one. 

"Quit pokin' at it, effin' hurts." He grumbles. Akira raises an eyebrow at the self censoring. Didn't this guy just say shit like a minute ago? Doesn't matter. Akira stands up again, having been bending down to reach the leg right. 

"Tell me everything, Ryuji. Why your leg is broken, who was chasing you, why you left your station, and how long ago this all happened." Akira leans on the wall perpendicular to the examination bench in the middle of the room, crossing his legs and arms. 

"Alright. So it all started about... I don't even know. But there's a supervisor, a real great war veteran. Real famous." Ryuji begins, but Akira stops him there. 

"What's his name?" 

"Kamoshida?" Ryuji responds, waiting for a reaction. There is none. 

"Haven't heard of him." The masked man shrugs. "Go on with your story then." 

"Haven't heard of-?! Oh, well, I guess you aren't from around here." Ryuji thinks out loud. "Where are you from?" He asks, innocently enough. 

"I'm asking you questions. Not the other way around. Go on with your story." Akira's voice is stern and Ryuji sits back, frowning and looking a little concerned. 

"Right, yeah. Sorry. But. Uh. Where was I?" He taps his chin, looking at the ceiling to remember. "Oh! Right. Kamoshida. Yeah, so I was going to work an' all, normal day. Had training out on the field. Eh, artificial field. But we had to work with guns and athletics an' shit. I've been training to be a soldier for almost a year now, got drafted. And oh, here's some backstory on my commander, Kamoshida. He's a total shit head, I tell you!" 

"Kamoshithead..." Akira mutters to himself, a small self satisfied smirk on his face. Ryuji looks up at him. 

"Huh?" 

"What?" Akira tilts his head, acting as if he said nothing. Ryuji carries on. 

"Never mind. Anyway, he's the worst. We do something wrong? We do more exercises. Nearly pass out from dehydration? Have to do laps around the field before we can take a drink break. It's abusive, man! And if that's not bad enough, if you say no, he'll hit you and mark you down as a deserter. And if you're a girl..." Ryuji frowns, looking down. Akira frowns as well, disgusted by what he's implying. 

"So I've had enough of it. Today I decided that I was gonna say no. I couldn't stand it anymore, the stress and seeing him beat these people who were just doin' their best in a situation they were forced to be in. So I told him off, he was bullying some other guy and I had enough, so I stepped in. I called him out on all that bullshit. And he looks down at me and- and- he mentions somethin' that bothers me a whole lot so I deck 'im in the face. Punched that bastard right in the face, knocked him back a bit too! Y'know I was surprised, so was he. I was amazed, I actually punched a commanding officer. But uh, the people in Shibuya don't care what happens to people marked as deserters, and so I forgot about that part. Then he like, holds me by the head, and his hands are massive by the way, I bet he could pick up a small child and hold them by just their head, like a effin' bowling ball! But anyway, he grabs me by the head and pulled my hair and you can see there's not much to pull, but he like, kicks me or, or something. I can't remember exactly. They all left me out on the field. My team and everything. I heard him say that he was gettin' Feds involved and like, I can't. I can't go to prison. I'd get myself killed in there. And so I ran away." He finishes his story, breathing heavily. Akira nods, and stands up. 

"Okay... you ran away? With a broken leg." He raises an eyebrow and leans on the table Ryuji was sitting on, hands on either side of him so Akira could lean right into his face. Ryuji leans back as far as he can without falling off the other side of the table. 

"Figure of speech, man. I crawled, okay? I crawled back and into the station, crawled to the med room and stuck myself with two needles to numb my leg. I wrapped it up and soon I couldn't feel anything down there so then I ran. I got to the emergency bay, and they saw me at this point. So I'm running as well as I can with a leg that's all wobbly and get in an escape pod and get the hell out." Now he finishes his story, leaning forward again gratefully as Akira moves back. 

"Okay. So you did run on a broken leg. I'm guessing the numbness is starting to wear off now, since it seemed to be hurting?" Akira says, poking the leg again and Ryuji winces. 

"Ahh stop doing that! Yeah, it's wearing off. And it's gonna be miserable when it's completely gone. I know putting pressure on a break is bad. I'm not that dumb. I know I overexerted it, and I'm gonna pay the price but I couldn't, I just couldn't stay." Ryuji looks down at his leg, grimacing. 

"I admire your tenacity. But you do know that if you hadn't run into my ship, you would probably still be flying through the nothing until you ran out of power. Then I'm not sure if the cold would get you or the lack of oxygen would get you first. Or maybe the power would outlive you, and you'd die of dehy-" 

"Okay I get it! It was a dumb plan! I didn't think about it really I just panicked." Ryuji interrupts Akira's morbid commentary. 

"Obviously. Hey, also, you mentioned something about how he brought up something that bothered you. What was it?" Akira leans forward a little again, but this time Ryuji holds his ground, setting his jaw confidently. 

"I don't think you need to know that." He answers, and Akira frowns. 

"If it's going to set you off and possibly put me and my ship in danger, I should know what it is." Akira's explanation draws an annoyed sigh from Ryuji. 

"It's like, personal, man." He looks pleadingly at Akira, who is unfazed. "It's 'bout my dad." Ryuji mumbles, and Akira leans back, looking a little sympathetic. 

"That's all I needed." He turns and looks around in some drawers for a needle, coming back over to Ryuji. "Here, uh. I'm not a doctor. I'll admit to that much. I figure I'll numb your leg again and wrap you up, and I guess just hope it mends." 

"Oh, cool, that's comforting." Ryuji frowns, not looking comfortable at all. Akira bends down and injects the numbing solution before moving back. He goes to find something to make a makeshift cast with when the speakers static on. 

"Joker can I talk yet?" A staticky voice whines through the walls and Ryuji jumps, looking around. Akira glares at the ceiling. 

"Morgana! I told you to keep quiet!" He shouts while Ryuji continues to look around. 

"Who is that? Where's your crew, anyway?" He starts questioning, and Akira grumbles. 

"This is why I told you to stay quiet." He keeps his voice low saying that as it was directed towards Morgana, then raises it to talk to Ryuji. "That is my ship, Morgana." He starts wrapping Ryuji's leg, hoping it would do anything to help. 

"Your ship?" Ryuji looks skeptical, then amazed when Akira confirms. "Your ship can talk? What else can she do?" 

"Ahem. I'm a boy." Morgana speaks up again, but Ryuji looks confused. 

"But don't people say that ships and shit are all female and whatnot?" He tilts his head. Akira looks bored as he responds. 

"Morgana is a boy ship." He says, and Ryuji continues with his questioning. 

"Aight. But like, how'd you get a talking ship? Like does he think and do things on his own?" He seems to be very interested. Akira opens his mouth to speak, but Morgana cuts him off. 

"I sure can! I'm almost as autonomous as you. I can steer the ship, turn lights on and off, answer distress calls before Joker can cancel them." The robotic voice is teasing, but Akira does not much appreciate it. 

"Morgana!" He yells, angrily punching the wall. The ship just laughs, an odd crackling sound. 

"You know I can't feel that." He chuckles, and Akira just looks more peeved. Ryuji looks almost heartbroken. 

"You mean you were gonna hang up on me?" He frowns, and Akira can't look him in the eye and answer that, so he maintains eye contact and stays silent. Ryuji's sadness starts turning into disgust, then disgust into anger. "You weren't even going to answer! You were just going to keep going and never think of me again. You were going to ignore me and never even know who I was." His accusations are all true, and Akira tries very hard to keep a straight face instead of looking apologetic. 

Ryuji stares at him more, then his eyes widen. 

"How many distress calls have you ignored? How many people killed because you didn't even have the heart to answer the damn call!" The man on the table is yelling now, fingers clenched around the lip of the surface. Akira finally looks away. 

"You think I'd let him do that? Really, it's surprising we ran into you out here at all. Nobody comes out here. How far away is your station? It never showed up on the radar." Morgana answers, actually calming Ryuji a bit. He sighs, looking up. 

"Uh, I dunno. I was in the pod for a while, I might've even left a few days ago. What day is it?" 

"Well, we kind of have a skewed time schedule, haha. Our clock goes on our own time. We have no idea what day it would be in your station." Morgana sounds apologetic, for a spaceship at least. 

"Oh. Okay. Then I have no effin' idea how long I've been floating." Ryuji frowns, looking a little frustrated. Akira finally lifts his head back up from looking down at the floor. 

"You must be thirsty. And hungry. I'll go make you something." He pushes up off the wall where he was leaning and quickly walks out. Ryuji opens his mouth to say something, but it's too late since Akira was already gone. He wasn't sure what he would say anyway, so it's fine. 

While he waited, Ryuji looked around the room. He was bored, and curious about where he was. Just about a day ago he was being beaten into a soldier, and now he's here, on an outlaw's ship. 

"Hey Morgana." He says into the open room. 

"What's on your mind?" The ship responds. 

"Can you talk into just one room, or do you always say everything to the whole ship?" 

"You kidding? Of course I can specify where I talk. In fact, Joker shouldn't be able to hear us right now." Morgana sounds proud of himself. Maybe a bit overconfident. 

"Oh cool. Do you have eyes?" Ryuji asks another question, and Morgana seems tickled. 

"Oh yes! I have eyes in every room. Joker can turn off some rooms like bedrooms and sanitary chambers, but otherwise I have full view of everything. I see all of it all at once, I'm just that good." Ryuji can hear the smug smile in the voice. "I hope you like protein bricks. Man, sometimes I sure am glad I'm not human." 

"Is that what Joker's cooking up? Oh." Ryuji makes a face of slight disgust. At least on the space station they had real food. 

"Hey, it's all we got. But after we deliver our newest cargo, then we'll be rich enough to buy real food, and get me some new tech. Hehe." Morgana would be smiling if he had a face. 

"What's the cargo?" Ryuji asks friendly enough, but his face falls when Morgana doesn't answer. 

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Joker had returned, holding a plate and glass of water. The lovely brick of protein was actually cut into bite sized pieces. He handed the plate and cup over, and Ryuji took the plate with both hands. Akira puts the cup down on the table next to him. "I hope it isn't so disgusting that you can't eat." He deadpans, leaning on the wall again. He no longer had on his gloves. 

Ryuji drinks some of the water first, realizing just how parched he was after he took the first sip. He downs the entire glass. With a sigh, Akira leaves to get him more water. While gone, Ryuji tries a bit of his food and it's not that bad. Not good, but not terrible. Tasted a bit like cardboard, but the consistency was a thick and cake-like. He downed the whole thing and asked for seconds. 

"No. I can get you more water but we really should conserve as much as we can." Akira takes the plate away, turning to leave. 

"But Morgana said once you-" 

"Morgana shouldn't have said anything at all. Besides, there is never a guarantee of success." Akira cuts Ryuji off before he can finish, then leaves once again. 

"Sheesh, what's the stick up his ass?" Ryuji mumbles grumpily. 

"He's been through a lot. We both have. It isn't easy when the world is against you." Morgana responds, a sad tone to his voice. Ryuji frowns, humming thoughtfully while looking at the door. 

In the kitchen, Akira puts the plate in the automatic washer, and then puts it away when it was automatically done. He fills the cup with water again and brings it back. Ryuji thanks him with a smile, and before he can stop himself, he's smiling back.


	2. What Comes After Hello?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira isn't used to hosting a guest, nor is he used to behaving properly around said guest. He also isn't used to having ~feelings~ for the guest. Strictly platonic feelings, of course, if they exist at all.  
> Ryuji is mostly just confused by this masked man and his talking ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a while but here you go! I wasnt exactly sure how I wanted to go with this, but I think I figured it out? I hope you enjoy.

"You can stay in here. Don't go wandering out unless I'm with you. If you need anything, just ask Morgana. He'll be keeping an eye on you, so don't do anything funny. Got it?" Joker had brought his guest from the infirmary to one of the empty crew bunks. He laid out the rules clearly and formally, arms crossed while Ryuji looked around the room from his seat on the bed. 

"He'll be watching me the whole time? Like while I sleep and everything?" Ryuji looks a little concerned, frowning. Akira sighs and adjusts the cuff on his sleeve. 

"Yes. I know you have a broken leg and seem to be friendly enough, but you have to understand that I can't trust you." The explanation leaves Ryuji with a pout. Akira narrows his eyes. "Don't look at me like that." 

"Ugh. So what, I'm just supposed to sit here?" He asks, removing the pout and looking more frustrated. "Am I like, a prisoner?" Akira allows himself a dark little laugh at that. 

"You? My prisoner? No, you would know if you were my prisoner." He smiles to himself shaking his head before adopting a serious expression again. "You can ask Morgana for whatever you need. As promised, I'll drop you off back at your space station and be on my way after that." Ryuji's eyes widen at that. 

"What?! No, that wasn't the agreement, you can't-" he tries to quickly stand up, misjudging his balance because of being unable to feel his one leg. He falls forward, cutting himself off with a yelp before Akira steps forward and catches him by the shoulders. There is a stern look in the grey eyes behind the mask. 

"Are you an idiot? You're injured, start acting like it." Akira talks to him like a child, and Ryuji grumbles in response to this scolding, shoving the hands off his shoulders. 

"Whatever. You still can't take me back there. Our deal was that I would help you or you would drop me off on a nearby planet." Ryuji looks up with a somewhat pleading expression, mixed with anger. 

"Yes. And with a broken limb, I don't see how much of assistance you would be. So, the nearest place to drop you off would be where you came from." Akira explains, unsympathetic. 

"No! No, I can do something! I'll be able to help somehow, I know it! I've got good aim, if you need someone to shoot shit? I can, uh, cook? Clean? I dunno man just give me some crutches and I'll do anything you want!" Ryuji clasps his hands in front of his face and closes his eyes. He opens them again in confusion when he hears a quiet chuckle from his host. 

"Actually, there just may be something you could do for me." Ryuji doesn't like the tone of Akira's voice, and leans back a little, intimidated. "You see, it's very lonely out here, just a man and his spaceship." Ryuji's eyes widen as Akira steps towards him, definitely not liking where this idea is heading. The two stare at each other for a moment, wide brown eyes looking into unreadable grey eyes. The Phantom Thief seems to look him over once before giving his order. 

"Strip." 

Ryuji sucks in a sudden breath, looking rather scared. Then, he closes his eyes and presses his mouth into a thin line. With shaking hands, he reaches down to the hem of his bright yellow t-shirt. He must do what must be done. For survival. As he starts lifting his shirt with an upset expression, he startles when he hears bright laughter fill the room. Ryuji opens his eyes, and sure enough, Joker is bent over slightly with one arm around his stomach and the other one on his head. 

"Ha ha, holy shit! I can't believe you were actually willing to do that! Damn, and the look on your face too! Haah, priceless." The jokester Joker calms his laughter, lifting his mask to wipe a tear from his eye before putting it back in place. It takes Ryuji a moment to process this before his surprise turns into rage. 

"What the- you asshole! What the hell? Here I am, scared I'm being forced to choose between my dignity or my freedom and it's all an effing joke? What the shit, man?" Ryuji looks for a nearby item he could use as a projectile, finding only the pillow on his bed. He throws that at Akira, though it does nothing to the amused Phantom Thief. 

"Okay okay, I am sorry for that. I just couldn't resist. There are so few chances for me to actually be able to prank someone." Akira leaned back, actually looking somewhat apologetic. Ryuji wondered how this guy suddenly turned from cold and distant to laughing and joking around.

"I can't believe I'm stuck on a ship with a madman." Ryuji mumbles, shaking his head. The speaker in the room crackles to life as Morgana agrees. 

"That makes two of us, Ryuji." The voice is sympathetic. Akira shouts up at the ceiling once again. 

"Hey! You _are_ the ship stuck with a madman. And you're the one that wanted to stay with me." At this accusation, the speakers seem to sigh. 

"You got me there, Joker." Morgana laughs a little, and somehow, Ryuji finds his anger fading into a more pleasant feeling, something like companionship. This too fades as the room grows quiet. Akira coughs into his fist to clear his throat, then rubs the back of his neck. 

"Yeah. So anyway. I'm not going to send you back there, actually. I have a shipment to make and money to earn, and I shouldn't keep them waiting." The masked man then turns to look at the ceiling. Ryuji tries to follow where his eyes point but sees nothing. "Hey, Morgana. We still en-route to Mementos?" 

"Yes sir captain!" Ryuji imagines that Morgana would salute with that, whatever he looked like. 

"Okay. Cool. So, Ryuji, you can just hang tight and we'll drop you off at Mementos instead, 'kay?" Akira turns to look at his captiv- guest. His guest. The guy scratches the side of his head absentmindedly. Ryuji thinks this over and then nods. 

"Y-yeah. Okay. That'll work." He then flashes one of his wide, winning Ryuji smiles. "Thanks, man! I owe you one." Akira just blinks at him with a blank face before turning away, rubbing the back of his neck. 

"Ah, yeah. I'll let you know if I need anything." And with that, the masked man leaves the room to head to the bridge. He puts a hand over his mouth thoughtfully. That smile... why did it feel like electricity impaling his heart? It was a big, dorky smile that was probably forced anyway. But still, it shined. 

"Shit." Akira whispers the word at the floor, shaking his head. He was treading dangerous waters, he couldn't let himself fall like a lovestruck fool! Not that he was lovestruck, no, it was just a simile. But still, it had been so long since he'd seen a smile like that, or even talked to a person like that. And Ryuji thanked him, even after Akira pissed him off. So nice, it felt almost like friendship.  
" _Shit_." 

-

Time passes like always, the ship quiet as Morgana flies and Akira stares at the monitor in the pilot's seat, sharing his eyes. Of course, he only cared about keeping surveillance on one specific room. 

Akira didn't fancy himself a voyeur, but he hadn't had any good form of entertainment besides a spotty internet connection. Very spotty. Didn't even work out past the center planets, really. In any case, watching his new guest dick around in his room was quite the entertainment. 

Ryuji stands up on one leg and starts hopping around the room to examine things while Akira just leans his head on his fist with his arm up against an empty space on the console. He breathes out a little chuckle when he sees the blonde fall over, having to catch himself on the table next to the bed. Ryuji turns himself over to sit on the bed, sighing before running his hands down his face tiredly. Akira can see him mumble something but the speakers don't pick up on it.

The pillow for the bed was still on the floor from where Ryuji threw it earlier, and Akira watches the thrilling adventure of Ryuji crawling across the floor to grab it, then return. As the victor lays his head down on his pillow with a yawn, Akira finds himself yawning as well. It certainly had been a long day, and he admits that it would get weird if he just watched Ryuji sleep. It was entertaining when he was doing things, but him laying on his side and staring at the wall wasn't fun to watch, besides being somehow creepier. 

The Phantom Thief makes his way out of the cockpit, turning off the monitor before he leaves, and goes to his own room. The captain's quarter was obviously the nicest in the ship, with room for a work desk up against the wall and a bigger bed as well. Akira takes off his tailcoat and the rest of his clothes, changing into something more comfortable to lay down in. His mask is set on the side table, next to his glasses case. He then flops unceremoniously face first into his bed with a sigh. 

"What'd you get yourself into this time, Joker." He mumbles to himself as he rolls onto his back. He doesn't even use his real name when talking to himself. No, he didn't much care for Akira anymore. Akira was his past, the one who had meaningful relationships with people. Now it was just Joker and his ship and the people who come and go through his life. 

-

"Hey, Morgana?" Ryuji speaks after a while of laying there just staring at the wall. The ship responds cheerfully. 

"What's on your mind?" Morgana's answer signals Ryuji to sit up, looking up at the ceiling like he saw Joker do. 

"I was wonderin'. Joker isn't his real name, is it?" Ryuji chews on his lip, head titled curiously. 

"Very perceptive, Ryuji." Morgana applauds him sarcastically, actually simulating clapping noises through the speaker. Ryuji rolls his eyes. 

"Hey, c'mon man don't patronize me." He shakes his head, ruffling his hair a little with his hand. "Why does he call himself that? And what's his real name then?" 

"You ever play cards?" Morgana asks and earns a slightly confused look from Ryuji. 

"Uh, not much. How is that relevant?" 

"Because the joker is like the trump card of the deck. A winning card. Depending on how you play, of course. But that's the reason. He's the best in the deck." Morgana's explanation helps Ryuji understand a bit more, nodding his head with a thoughtful hum. 

"Okay... that's pretty cool. But what about his real name? Why doesn't he use it? And what is it?" This question draws a staticky noise of unsureness from the speaker. 

"I'm not supposed to say. I really can't tell you." Morgana sighs. "Sorry, Ryuji. You'll only find out if he decides to tell you himself." 

"Aw." Ryuji seems a little disappointed, then lays back down. He faces the wall again, not moving when he speaks. "Well, thanks. I'm gonna check outa life for the day an' catch some Z's. Don't be too creepy watchin' me sleep." The warning tone in his voice actually makes Morgana laugh. 

"Trust me, I don't find the idea of staring at you for that long incredibly appealing." He chuckles, and Ryuji smiles a bit with a laugh. 

"Yeah yeah, whatever you wanna tell yourself. G'night." 

"Good night, Ryuji." He can almost hear the friendly smile in the robotic voice, and it feels comforting, somehow parental feeling. Ryuji falls asleep eventually, and the ship is truly quiet once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated, I accept constructive criticism too! I actually like it, lets me know how I can improve yknow. Anyway, yeah. Thanks for reading.


	3. Um, Houston? So, Listen...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is going smoothly. If smoothly means not smooth at all, that is. On top of that, Akira isn't the only thing on this ship that isn't straight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! It's taken me soooo loooong hasn't it! I apologize. Life happened a lot and it's been shit. But here's a new chapter so I'm happy for that! I hope you are also happy for that. Cheers!

"Joker." 

"Mnh..." 

"Joooookeeeeeer." 

"Mmnnnhh." 

"Joker!" 

"Morgana I swear to god if this ship isn't in immediate danger I will uninstall you." 

"Meanie." 

The conversation was almost a daily occurrence for the ship and his captain. Joker, the sleepy and grumpy man, reluctantly sits up in his bed and ruffles his messy black hair. 

"What do you need?" He asks, yawning. 

"Oh, it's not for me. Ryuji let me know that he's hungry." Morgana informs the captain, to which he receives a drawn out groan in reply. 

"But he just got fed before I went to sleep!" 

"Joker that was 12 hours ago." 

"Oh." Akira rubs his neck in a moment of embarrassment as he swings his legs out of bed. He looks himself over in the mirror, donning his mask, before he goes to leave. 

"Is the mask necessary?" Morgana asks, deadpan. Akira nods solidly. 

"Absolutely." As he walks his way toward Ryuji's room, Morgana stops him outside of the infirmary. 

"Wait, he also wants something to help him walk, and tells me that his leg hurts." The added information makes Akira sigh in further annoyance. 

"So needy." He mutters, turning to walk into the infirmary. He gets some pain killers and searches around for some crutches or something. Holding his head, he focuses, the room shifting to greyscale in his eyes. "I can see it..." he whispers to himself, concentrating. The silhouette of a pair of crutches appears in blue, hiding in the back corner of a medical cabinet. He closes his eyes and sighs, and when he opens them again, he grabs the stuff and continues towards his guest's room. 

Ryuji is sitting up in bed with his legs flat out. He looks up as Akira steps down into the room and waves at him, a smile forming on his face. Akira does his best to not let that smile become contagious

"G'morning, man." Ryuji greets him rather cheerfully and Akira starts to catch those feelings as the corners of his lips quirk up a little. 

"Good morning. Hope you slept well?" Akira hands over the crutches and pills. The other takes them gratefully, immediately downing the pills without any water. 

"Shit, thanks man, effing lifesaver. I slept perfectly fine until the meds wore off and then my leg's just been hurting like hell. Can't barely move it without pain." The blonde boy frowns in frustration at his leg. Akira looked over it and then looked a little closer. He noticed that his entire calf seemed to be a little crooked. The worried expression that the masked man apparently had had Ryuji looking down too. "Yeah... I don't think this is settin' right, man." 

Akira frowns, stepping closer to get a better look. Sure enough, even wrapped up it didn't look right. Carefully he unwraps it, doing his best to ignore the pained noises that Ryuji was clearly trying to hide. The results were unpleasant. The leg was definitely not healing right, and the skin was turning ugly purples and yellows. Both of the boy's eyes widen, and if Morgana had eyelids he would be doing the same. 

"Fuck." Akira comments usefully, backing up and standing up straight. Ryuji looks quickly between him and his leg, scared. 

"Hey, hey this is fine though? We can fix it easy? Just gotta set the bone straight, yeah? Pop it back into place?" The clear panic in his voice made the captain much less collected. 

"Morgana? Where is the nearest medical center?" Akira looks up at the ceiling, turning his fears into willpower to fix this. The speakers stutter to life. 

"Um, the nearest place with a decent medical facility would be... the place Ryuji says he came from." The voice sounded reluctant, and Ryuji sat up straighter. 

"No! No, there's gotta be some other place. What about the planet you said you're going to? Wouldn't they have anything?" Ryuji looked hopeful, but the look was dashed a moment later. 

"That wouldn't work either. Anything they have is the same that we have on board. Mementos isn't a very nice planet, far from the Alliance. In fact, the place we're headed specifically is an Independence run city. They really don't have much, so we-" Morgana explains the situation quickly, before stopping himself. Ryuji looks over to the masked man and the scary warning expression being pointed at the ceiling on his face showed why. Joker didn't even need to say anything this time to silence the ship. Ryuji gets the message well enough, but decides to ignore it in favor of asking a different question. 

"You're smugglers, aren't you?" The question was innocent enough, but the pissed off look on Akira's face is redirected to Ryuji as he grinds his teeth. 

"Thieves. We are Thieves. And we aren't doctors either, so if you want to walk ever again, you'll deal with a little danger." Akira's voice was strained, like he was keeping himself back from yelling. Ryuji swallowed, feeling like he should put his hands up in surrender or something. There was a tickling thought in the back of his mind that he wouldn't realize until later, but the masked man's eyes were definitely not that red when Ryuji first met him. Then the pissed off expression changed when Morgana's voice crackled to life through the speakers. 

"Wait, Joker, what about...?" The voice trailed off, but it was clear that the captain knew what the ship was talking about. His face paled and he almost looked nervous. 

"No, definitely not. You know we can't pay her traditionally. I don't think I could go through another one of those-" Joker cuts himself off as he realizes he was still in the presence of a very confused Ryuji. "Uh." 

"Wait, can somebody explain? I am getting super lost here, dude." Ryuji raises a hand like he was asking a question in class. "If there's an option that would work other than leading me into my certain effing death, I would like to vote on that one." 

Akira grunts in annoyance, turning around to face the wall away from Ryuji. The blonde wishes that he could stand, but his hands only clench into tight fists as he watched the other. 

"What are you so damn afraid of? I thought you were the one just telling me to put up with danger!" His voice was a shout, and he didn't back down when Akira spun around to glare at him. 

"I'm not sacrificing myself for you!" The words were defensive, and sounded weaker than Ryuji would have expected coming from the other's mouth. They sounded almost desperate, like a plea. The man breathes in before whirling around to get out of the room. "I'll bring you your breakfast." Is the last bitter words spoken from the masked man before he disappears again. Ryuji loosens his fists, face a little more confused at what the hell that interaction was. 

"Morgana? Can you explain?" Ryuji asks the only one who would know, and the only one he could actually talk to anyway. The speakers sigh. 

"He's been through a lot." Morgana says, just like earlier. Ryuji grumbles and lays back down while he waits for his food. 

"Yeah, well, still don't give him the right to be an ass." Morgana doesn't respond. Moments pass in silence, but Ryuji cuts through it again before Akira returns. "Are we actually going back there? You know they would never let me in any way, and probably confiscate everything too. You've got cargo, right? They're definitely gonna search the ship if you land there." 

"Don't worry Ryuji, he didn't say anything but I have the feeling that we won't be going there. I'll let you know as soon as- oh!" Morgana cuts off suddenly with surprise and is silent for a minute, then continues. "That was faster than expected. You have nothing to worry about, Ryuji, we are continuing to Mementos, a bit out of the way of our delivery first. He must really like you!" A noise that could be passable as a giggle comes from the speakers. Ryuji looks taken aback before setting his face into a more grumpy one. 

"He's got a helluva way of showing it, then." Ryuji crosses his arms grumpily. The chuckling continues for a minute before things return to silence. 

Joker returns a little while later with two bricks and two bottles of water. Ryuji's eyes sparkle at the two foods, then lose that sparkle as he realizes the second one isn't for him. 

"What's with the look on your face?" Joker comments after he's done chewing on a bite of brick. Ryuji grumbles around his own bite. 

"What look?" He asks. 

"Like a kicked puppy. Only the puppy also gets pissed afterwards." The man lifts his hand up in his explanation before dropping it. A dark look crosses his face. "Don't try to kick back, got it?" Ryuji matches his challenging look. 

"I'll kick whatever needs kickin'." Ryuji responds. "So don't kick me first and I won't kick you." The Thief sat back and looked somewhat amused, but in a strangely proud sort of way. They continue eating in silence. Ryuji finishes first, naturally, since he had the habit of just stuffing his face when hungry. Akira watches him, and had actually been staring at him the whole time. Ryuji didn't actually seem to notice the attention, or maybe he just didn't care. 

"You know, you're gonna owe me big time." He says suddenly, causing Ryuji to look up with a befuddled expression. "I let you in and fed you and tried to treat your wounds and all. And now I'm freaking going to an unregistered doctor to get you the help you need." He sighs, shaking his head. "You owe me so much." 

"What's the doctor about? Why are you so nervous?" Ryuji prods, and the masked man looks up with a tricky but friendly look. 

"You'll see when we get there. But the basics of it is that I've formed a contract with her. Sort of. Don't go worrying about it though, it's not your business." Akira responds, finishing off his own meal finally. He then stands up, brushes the crumbs off the lap of his sleep pants, and turns to go out the door. "Alright, just hang tight for a bit. It'll be a couple days before we reach the place. See ya." He started leaving but Ryuji called out to him first. 

"Wait! Uh, where are you going? And a couple days? How many days? Can I come out of my room sometime?" Akira looks around his shoulder at the boy spewing off these questions. 

"Leave your room if you want to, I don't care. I've got a few books on the shelf in the sitting room. Internet is crap so books are really the only thing, unless you like solitaire or some other sort of meaningless single player card game. I'll trust you to entertain yourself." Before Ryuji could say anything else, Akira left the room with these words behind him. 

Ryuji blinks in silence at the door where the captain just disappeared through. He feels like if Morgana had a hand, he would be patting him on the shoulder. 

"He's a bit of an acquired taste. Sorry about that, Ryuji." The voice through the speakers is sympathetic. Ryuji just snorts, laying back down on his bed to stare straight up at the ceiling. 

"Really acquired, yeah."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji's leg is the other not straight thing. The only other not straight thing. Definitely. Nothing else is not entirely straight on this ship. Nooooope. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Leave comments and kudos if that is so, the comments make me smile. Thanks for reading!


	4. Warm Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deck of cards? Deck of cards. Clumsy guest? Clumsy guest. Blooming friendship? Shut your mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyo! So I was writing this along with the last chapter but figured that it would be better if I split them up. So here you go! Enjoy!

Akira sits down in the cockpit, turning on the display to snoop on his guest while they continued their way to Mementos. Ryuji was just laying there, staring. If it weren't for his obvious breathing and blinking every so often, he might look dead. He stayed like that for a long while so the captain turns off the display and gets up to go so something else less boring. 

"Hey, Joker." Morgana speaks up just before he leaves towards the bridge. Akira pauses, looking up slightly to show he was listening. "You're really going to go ask Dr. Takemi for help?" The voice sounds worried, and Akira looks down at the floor. 

"I'm not going some place we'll get supervised by the alliance. I can handle her, I have before." He responds, continuing to walk down the bridge. 

"I know that, I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you." Morgana said these words with a tone that made it clear he would smile if he had a mouth. 

"Proud?" Akira looks honestly confused, staring up at the ceiling. 

"Yes. You're being really brave, you know." As Morgana says this, the captain flaps his hand dismissively. 

"Oh, I know I am. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass." Akira makes his way into the kitchen area and seats himself at the big table. Then, he takes off his mask and folds his arms before laying his head down on top of them on the table. He taps the wooden surface with his pointer finger idly. The nail clinked against the wood pleasantly, a sort of ticking sound that reverberated through the table and into the cavern created by his folded arms until finally reaching his ear. It drowned out most of the noises that the ship made, but wasn't loud enough to keep Akira from hearing a clink followed by a thud, repeatedly. He lifts his head, turning to look down the hall. 

Ryuji waves a hand at him and almost drops one of the crutches, nearly falling with it as he tried to grab it before it hit the ground. He righted himself after a moment, his tongue poking out between his teeth as he tried. Once balanced on his good leg again, he looks back up with a grin. Akira focuses in on his eyebrows instead of his face. 

Staring directly into the sun will blind you. 

Akira isn't sure how the thought crossed his mind, but it was rather unsettling for him. Ryuji wasn't a sunshine, he was a thorn in Akira's side. But still, that smile...

"Sup! I was doing a much better job getting here. You must've distracted my concentration." The blonde says before carefully crutching his way into the room. He seats himself right next to the other, despite there being plenty of seats around. That damn smile didn't go away, so Akira refocuses his attention to the table, and by extension, the mask he had forgotten to put back on. Before he could grab it, Ryuji picks it up to examine it. 

"Whoaaa, this is pretty neat looking, but what do you really need it for? It doesn't really hide much, does it." Ryuji flips the mask over and over, before trying to put it on. Akira just watches with a somewhat stunned expression that anyone would have the gall to do this. The blonde pouts a little as it becomes clear the mask doesn't fit his face. He looks at it again, muttering about how he wonders why. Finally, Akira snaps to his senses and snatches his mask out of Ryuji's hands. 

"It covers plenty. And it doesn't fit you because your head is too big. It's custom designed for _me_ , and is mine only. Didn't I say something about touching my stuff and how you should not do it?" He keeps a condescending tone as he puts it on his face. Ryuji holds up his hands in apology. 

"Sorry dude, didn't think about it... Ryuji trails off, looking at the person next to him intently, as if he were studying him. Akira always tends to just stare at people, but being on the receiving end wasn't so great. Then, Ryuji grins again and lets out a small laugh. "Oh my god, you look so weird with the fancy mask on and your jammies. Totally clashes." Akira gapes at his guest, face flushing a little. He was supposed to be cool and collected with the mask on. He was supposed to look badass, not laughably weird! He shakes off the embarrassment to trade it for anger. 

"Hey! Don't be rude! I had to get myself out of comfortable sleep to feed and medicate your sorry ass." He frowns, talking angrily but not yelling. Ryuji seems unaffected. 

"Okay okay, I'm sorry. But still, why'd'you need the mask?" Ryuji asks, leaning his arm on the table and his face on his fist. The question was honest, and Akira hesitates before taking it off again. Without his mask he almost felt naked knowing that someone was looking at him. He averts his eyes for a moment before making eye contact once again. 

If Ryuji had to describe him with one word, he would say "intense." The look on his face was no exception. It looked like he was trying not to look nervous, but there was just a bit of it hidden. Ryuji's face heats up, somehow feeling like he was intruding. 

"I guess I don't need it. You've already seen my face for more than a second so the point is moot now." Akira sits back and rubs the back of his neck as he averted his eyes again. "I really use it as a mask to hide my true self. Also because I don't want people recognizing me. It's almost funny. I donned the mask to become someone new, someone people didn't look down on. I guess I got that? But I've gotten a large criminal record over my head now too, so I wonder if it was a good idea." 

"Well, hmm. If you were never Joker, then I would never have met you." Ryuji says the words with such sentiment that Akira feels like his heart almost stops. Then Ryuji continues. "And I'd be dead, most likely. Still sitting out there in the black in my little pod. So, yeah. It might sound strange, but I'm glad to be here with you." He smiles and Akira feels like he got punched in the gut. He's at a loss for words, at least glad that he was able to keep his face mostly blank. In the end, he nods quickly and turns to face the table again. All he can do now is hope that he isn't super red in the face. 

They sit in almost silence for a moment, the only substantial noise being Ryuji's hands drumming on the table. Akira almost jumps out of his skin when Ryuji's loud voice breaks his calm. 

"Hey, why are you all the way out here anyway? Why not just sit down on a planet somewhere?" Ryuji smiles a little, curiously. Akira meets the innocent gaze with a glare, but Ryuji doesn't falter. 

"I don't think that's your business, buddy." He says in a warning tone like usual. Ryuji still doesn't falter, and it throws Akira for a bit of a loop. 

"Nah, but I still wanna know. B'sides, if you've got trouble that's following you or anything, I kinda wanna know since I am on your ship too." He explains as Akira looks at him with a weirdly proud sort of surprise. 

"True. Okay, well. If I have to tell you something then you'll have to tell me something. Deal?" He waits until Ryuji nods excitedly before speaking again. His listener was attentive like a starry eyed child. He wasn't going to think it was kinda cute. "Okay. So, I got into some trouble in my earlier life. Around 16 I guess?" He's stopped suddenly by Ryuji. 

"Wait, how old are you? I was wonderin' that too. I'm 19." Ryuji waits with patient excitement for Joker's answer. Meanwhile, Joker rolls his eyes. 

"Older than 19." Is his simple response, and Ryuji looks frustrated. "Anyway," Akira continues, ignoring the question and subsequently Ryuji's "hey!" that followed. "I got myself into trouble. There was this guy, obviously trying to advantage of a lady who was having absolutely none of it. I threw him off her, he hit his head on the ground, I got arrested. Apparently he was head of interplanetary relations or something, pulled all these strings that made everyone think I attacked him and the lady out of nowhere." He sighs. "I got put on probation, but my parents could barely even look at me. They were planning to send me to some off planet correctional facility I think, so I ran before they could. Hid in a junkyard for a while and found Morgana there. He barely worked then, but with the right parts I ended up fixing him up enough he could speak and think for himself again. Dunno why he got thrown out, though. Found this here ship sitting and rusting in the junk, and it wasn't too hard to fix up. Hooked Morgana up, got it to fly, and here we are. Of course there's a bunch of nuances between then and now, but I won't trouble you with the boring details." 

"Even if they aren't even boring! We've had tons of fun, haven't we Joker?" Morgana inserts himself into the conversation, but the captain merely rolls his eyes. 

"Yes yes, but I wasn't going to _tell him that_ , dumbass." 

"Hey! Don't be mean. Besides I'm getting sick of all these stupid secrets. It's not like they need to be secretive anyways." Morgana argues but Joker doesn't actually seem to get mad this time. 

"They're called secrets because they are secretive. If I didn't keep them secret then they wouldn't be called secrets!" His argument back had Morgana chuckling a little, and Ryuji idly thinks that this guy has a nice smile, whenever he does smile. 

"You guys just said secret so much that it doesn't even sound like a word any more." Ryuji comments, actually managing to pull a little laugh out of the others. He thinks that Joker has a nice laugh, too.

"But seriously, I have to keep some things hidden. They don't call me the _Phantom_ Thief because I tell everyone everything." Akira explains once the friendly chuckles die down. He seemed relaxed, leaning back in his chair comfortably, body language being much more open than before. Akira doesn't know why he's making himself so vulnerable, nor does he know why he likes it. This Ryuji boy is a serious danger, it had to be his doing. Making Akira weak with his toxic friendliness. "Anyway, I think it's my turn to question you." He pauses, thinking about what to ask. 

"Go ahead! I'm as open as a book, bro." Ryuji smiles and leans back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other as if he was being interviewed. Akira blanks out a moment after being called "bro", then immediately berates himself mentally for being so pathetic. 

He runs into a problem quickly. Akira isn't sure what to ask, for once. Of course he wanted to get a bit more information about Ryuji's father, but he knows he isn't close enough to be trusted with that, and he isn't enough of an ass to force the issue. So he moves onto another question, wondering if Ryuji had any significant other. He almost asks this before he realizes that it might sound like he was interested in a relationship, which was a ridiculous thought. Akira had to avoid that. His third idea that comes to mind seems to be pretty decent, so he goes with that one. 

"You said you were drafted. Why? I didn't think there was a war that the Alliance was invested in." Akira asks, and Ryuji does not seem disturbed or embarrassed or anything negative in reaction to it, so it is counted as a victory. 

"Yeah. I didn't think so either, but then I got randomly drafted. I think it was partially because I didn't have a job yet, so I had no real notable reason for them to let me stay. Doesn't seem they cared much about my mom or anything." Ryuji frowns, wrinkling his eyebrows together in disgust. "But it turns out that it isn't as peaceful as we're lead to believe. The Independence is still rebelling against unification, and there was a whole lot of brown-coat hate around the station. I'd think you were with the Independence except your coat is black." 

"Black suits me better, brings out my eyes, so I'm told." Akira responds, blasé as ever. Ryuji smirks with a tiny huff of amusement. 

"But they need tons of soldiers who are willing to do whatever they are told with no questions asked. Some volunteer, but a lot like me are forced into it. I didn't want to fight, honest. I think the Independence has some good points, actually. But I'd be totally treasonous if I said that, so I kept my mouth shut to survive. Until Kamoshida stepped up to the plate and beat his way into my life and ruined everything, that is. But yeah, the battle is on some planet, I can't remember which. Around a city called uh, Shin- Shinny? Shinji? I can't remember. It definitely started with 'shin' though, I think." He shakes his head, trying to dispell the thoughts of the irrelevant name. "But here I am now! So maybe it wasn't all bad." He smiles that damn smile again, be Akira was feeling relaxed enough that he allowed himself to smile back. This just seemed to make the other guy happier. 

"Well, it doesn't matter much now. You're out of that place." Akira crosses his arms, allowing himself to feel happy at the thankful look the other gave him, and returned the look with a pleased smile himself. 

"Yeah, I owe you for it I know. But still, I'm pretty happy. It ain't so bad here." He grins that awful, wonderful grin again. "Even if you are kind of an ass sometimes, you're not so bad either." Ryuji pats the grey eyed guy next to him on the shoulder, and Akira doesn't even feel suspicious of the touch or anything. Usually when people would get this close in his space, they were going to try something harmful. He didn't even think for a second that Ryuji would do anything like that, which he found to be kind of a scary thought afterwards. But in the moment, it was comforting. 

"Hey, I'm not an ass." Akira argues with a jokingly hurt tone of voice. 

"Yes, you are." Ryuji and Morgana say in unison, making the captain laugh. 

"I can't believe I'm being ostracized on my own ship in front of a guest, by my ship and the guest." He shakes his head mockingly mournfully. The three share a chuckle. 

"Hey, you said you've got cards and stuff right? You wanna play something?" Ryuji asks a few moments later. Akira clears his throat and stands up. 

"I confess I haven't played anything in a while. I am pretty great at making structures out of the cards, though." He turns to head out of the room silently. Ryuji stands up to go after him but sits back down quickly as he immediately lost balance. He curses under his breath and tries again, standing up and prepared to hop and swing his way out to follow the other when he already returned, carrying a little box. "What are you doing?" Akira asks honestly, one eyebrow raising in confusion. Ryuji sits back down, embarrassed. 

"Uh. Nothing." He responds, rubbing the back of his neck before sitting forward again. He trades his embarrassment for curious excitement as Akira opens the box and pulls out a pretty deck of cards. It didn't look like they got used very much. "Sweet, so what'd'ya wanna play?" 

"I don't really know, actually. I don't remember a lot of games or how to play them." Akira confesses, sifting through the cards. Ryuji shrugs, not looking any less happy. 

"That's fine. I could could teach you how to play Rummy or something. My mom an' I would play it all the time when I was little and the electricity would go out in a storm or something. We'd pull out the lantern and I would try to use the lack of light and to cheat by tricking her. It never worked but I still tried." The guy smiles softly, looking at Akira's hands as they flipped the cards and mixed them all up. Ryuji stops talking, just silently reminiscing the old days. Akira felt a pang of pity, coupled with a sneaky stab of jealousy. 

"I think I've played that before. It's something about pairing cards and getting rid of your hand to win, right?" Akira ignores his feelings and pulls Ryuji out of his thoughts, making the blonde shake his head quickly to snap out of it. 

"Yeah, pretty much. You can match cards if they have the same number, like a 2 from each suit or a King from each suit. Or, you could line them up by suit in order, like 2, 3, 4, and so on. It is best to empty your hand when you have a lot out, and when your opponents have a lot of cards still in their hands. If someone else empties their hand, the cards in your hands subtract the value of the cards you have on the table, so don't keep hold of the big ones like Queen and Ace if you can help it, they're worth more. Uh, I think that's it. I don't know if these are the official rules but that's just how we would play it so that's how we're gonna play it. Got it?" Ryuji's long explanation finally finished and Akira gave a confident nod. He was pretty sure he got the basics down.

"I've got it now, so you should be prepared for total card annihilation." The dark haired boy grins with cocky confidence, and Ryuji raises an eyebrow. 

"Oh? Let's see if you'll be singing the same tune when I take you down." He challenges back, his own confident grin on his face. 

The game is hard fought, and the first winner is Joker. The man grins, folding his arms across his chest. 

"Hey, don't look so sure of yourself yet, we've got four more rounds and then we'll add up the total." Ryuji warns him, his own face harboring a big smirk. He deals out the cards again and the game continues. The victor of the second round is Joker once again, and Ryuji chews on the inside of his cheek in annoyance. Joker winks at him. 

"Hey, don't look so unsure of yourself yet. There's still time for you to not end up a total loser." Akira's challenging words make Ryuji glare for a quick moment before he adopts confidence once again. 

The third round is close, Ryuji winning by a couple points. Still, a victory is a victory and he does not waste the opportunity to lord it over his opponent. His cockiness only grows as he wins the fourth round too, but when Akira wins the fifth and final round, he isn't so sure. They count up the totals from each game and compare, anticipation high as Ryuji takes his time adding the numbers together. Akira taps his pencil on the table next to the paper he kept track of his score on bored. Finally, Ryuji sits up and proudly declares his total, only to lose his gusto when Akira shows him up by about 100 points. The rivals shake hands in good sportsmanship. 

"Okay, that was a fine win I'll admit. But that's just beginners luck! Next time we play I promise it'll be your ass that is kicked." Ryuji doesn't lose his contagious grin over his loss, and Akira actually grins naturally back. 

"Are you so sure? Don't make promises you can't keep, Ryuji." His tone is warning, but the good natured smile on his face takes any threat out of it. Ryuji winks and Akira is embarrassed to notice the feeling of his face heating up. 

"I have every intention to keep this one, Joker. Thinkin' I can't make good on my word is a dangerous road, my dude." Ryuji waggles a finger in front of the other's face in warning. Akira crosses his eyes a little to look at it before flicking his tongue out to lick it. Ryuji recoils with a yelp, his face turning a bit redder. "Wha- the hell?!" Joker covers his mouth with his laughter, mirthful yet mocking. 

"Hey, you're the one who put that finger in my face. Just be glad I didn't bite it." He moves his hand down from his mouth and tilts his head, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Unless you prefer biting." Ryuji's red face only gets darker. 

"D-dude!" He gapes as Akira laughs again. Ryuji smiles in defeat, shaking his head. "You are totally weird." 

"Not the worst thing I've been called." The captain chuckles a little, leaning his head on his fist, elbow against the table. Ryuji nods before starting to pile the cards together to put them back in the box. He picks up the joker card, one they had set to the side for this game. He slides it over in front of the other. 

"Look, it's you." He says with a smile. The comment is silly, but Ryuji was looking at Akira and excitedly waiting for a response. Akira can feel his face heating up for some reason. There was just something about that dumb smile, even the dumb comment. There was something that almost felt sentimental about it. He smiles back, sifting through the cards for a two. He slides the 2 of hearts over to Ryuji when he finds it. 

"It's you." He smirks teasingly, taking in the faked hurt expression on Ryuji's face. 

"Aw, dude, weak. You know I'm the Ace." He says confidently, fishing out the ace of hearts. He holds it up, the single heart in the middle upside down. Akira reaches over and flips it for him. Ryuji looks at the card in embarrassment. "Oops." He grins again. "Thanks, you fixed my heart!" Akira smiles back deviously before plucking the card from Ryuji's fingers. 

"And now I've stolen your heart." He says, not thinking about it. The two look at each other for a moment as they process it. Ryuji just blinks with a stunned expression and red face as Akira coughs loudly into his fist and turns away. The air is awkward before Ryuji's hesitant voice speaks up. 

"You really are a thief, ain'tcha." It was a sorry attempt at a joke, but it makes Akira snort out a laugh. He stands up, shaking his head with amusement at his guest who was giving him a tentative smile. 

"Phantom Thief." He grins, quickly stepping behind Ryuji before he could even turn around and leans down next to his ear. The blonde hair tickles the side of his face, he's so close. "You'll never see me coming." He says teasingly, enjoying feeling the way the the other shudders under him before he steps away with a spin. "See you later." Akira waves before he disappears through the door out of the room. 

Ryuji, meanwhile, just sits there with a stunned expression. What just happened? If he didn't know better, he'd think that the thief was hitting on him. That couldn't be right though. Was he threatening him, maybe? No, it didn't sound threatening, and it didn't feel threatening either. It felt kind of nice, almost too nice. Ryuji shakes his head quickly to get these thoughts out of his head before he starts packing the cards up. 

"Hey, Morgana? What the hell just happened?" Ryuji calls out, glancing around to make sure Joker wasn't in the room. Morgana cackles loudly and Ryuji panics as he tries to shoosh the speakers. How is a guy supposed to quiet an entire ship? 

"What just happened? I'm not sure myself! But it was hilarious to watch." Morgana giggles a little quieter now, but Ryuji isn't reassured. 

"Okay, but why would he do that? Was he..." he couldn't bring himself to say anything he was thinking. Flirting? Threatening? What the hell? 

"I think he just likes watching people squirm. It's definitely not the first time I've seen this feisty side of Joker." Morgana explains to a now annoyed Ryuji. The blonde was actually a little pissed that he was just doing that to make him uncomfortable. "What I'm surprised about is that he actually took his mask off for you. And was still so bold after that! Just between you and me, I think that-" suddenly, it sounds like the speaker short circuits, and Morgana's voice disappears. 

"Hello?" Ryuji asks after a moment, looking at the ceiling with concern. "Morgana?" There is still no response, so Ryuji gets his crutches and starts a difficult journey through the ship to find either the controls or Joker. 

The bridge is dark and the ship quiet, the only noises around Ryuji are the clink of his crutches, the thump of his good leg hitting the floor, and his heavy breathing from the exertion of it. He calls down the hall with there being no response. Frowning, he continues anyway. He only just puts his crutches up on the stairs into the cockpit when the lights flash on and blind him momentarily. 

"Ahh, what the fuh-?" He squints ahead, now seeing the person in front of him at the top of the shirt stairs. 

"Ryuji, what are you doing over here?" Joker's voice is obvious, and Ryuji makes out a stern expression on his face.

"Morgana turned off or something. It seemed like something went wrong. Is everything okay?" Ryuji frowns with concern and suspicion. 

"Don't worry, everything's going just fine, small audio malfunction. It'll be fixed right up in a few minutes." Joker seemed to be unsettled, shifting on his feet. Then the dark haired man jerks his head forward quickly to gesture down the hall. "Why don't you head back to your room. I'll let you know when we can do something for lunch maybe. Deal?" 

Ryuji squints at the shifty guy in front of him before turning around. He forces a friendly smile and waves bye, expertly not falling this time. 

"Alright. See you then, I hope the thing gets fixed soon." He says before disappearing slowly down the hall. Akira shuts the door to the cockpit and heads to the controls. He turns Morgana back on, ready to take a lashing for turning him off in the first place. 

"I have half a mind to tell him everything you don't want me to just to spite you, you know." Morgana's pissed of voice comes to life again. "Besides, you didn't even know what I was going to say." 

"Doesn't matter. You can't say 'just between you and me' to anyone. Ever. There are no secrets on this ship and there are no secrets in this ship besides the ones that _we_ keep. You can't keep something from me, Morgana." Akira responds coldly. 

"Yeah yeah yeah. You shouldn't be keeping the truth from yourself, either." Morgana sounds cocky, and Akira narrows his eyes. 

"What are you talking about?" 

"I'm talking about Ryuji. You can't just admit that you like him?" Morgana's accusation has the man's face flushing. 

"I do not! He's an occasionally entertaining nuisance is all. I don't need a friend or the complications of romance either. That's just ridiculous." Akira frowns grumpily, looking down at the monitor to see where Ryuji was going. 

"Mhm, sure." Morgana sounds unconvinced. "But just between you and me, I think you already think of him as a friend." Akira tenses up, fists closes tightly. 

"Just shut up and fly. We need to get to Mementos as soon as possible." He responds, sitting down in the pilots chair and watching the screen to follow Ryuji as he goes to his room. Akira knew Morgana was right. As much as he didn't want this friendship, there was a bond already made. He could feel it in his heart. It was sickening. It was exhilarating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I took some liberties from firefly. If you've never seen the show, the Alliance is basically the government who control most of the central planets, the planets closest to the sun. The planets further out are more like settler planets, and some outof the control of the Alliance. The Independence (aka browncoats) are the people who don't want to be apart of the Alliance. They rebel and fight for their land and their freedom to make their own laws and own rules in their own civilizations. In this, Akira tries to stay away from the war and doesn't want to fight for either side, doesn't want to fight at all. But he will supply the Independence with supplies, basically putting him on their side.  
> Comment and kudos appreciated! Thank you for reading and putting up with this, lol


	5. More Than Hospitality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even in a spaceship hurtling through the void, the gay feelings cannot be outrun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoohoo, another chapter here you go! Idk if I'm exactly happy with this one, but it works. I've got a bunch planned for this so uh, we're in this for the long haul, friends. As always, enjoy!

For the first time in months, the dining table was filled with laughter. Akira couldn't remember the last time he had a meal as jovial as this. Sure, he could laugh with Morgana sometimes, but it was nothing like this stomach aching and mouth gasping for air of amused hysterics. Akira leaned heavily against the table, half finished food momentarily forgotten while Ryuji recounted a tale from his youth. 

"And then, no- I swear to GOD, then I offered him a mint. God, the look on his face! I got three weeks of detention, I did, but holy shit it was worth it." He finishes his thrilling tale of completely bitching out his second grade teacher with dwindling chuckles, rubbing the tears from his eyes from laughing so hard. Akira wasn't in a much better situation, his own eyes wet and grin hurting his cheeks a bit. 

"A mint, shit, you were such a brat! Holy hell." The usually stoic thief leans back in his chair with a sigh, breathing deeply for the air he couldn't get into his lungs due to laughing so freaking hard. 

"You bet I was! My mom was mad 'til I told her about the whole thing, then she was laughin' too." Ryuji shakes his head, a sentimental look on his face. "She wasn't even gonna punish me, but my dad-" the smile on his face falters for a second, and Akira sits up straighter, attentive. Ryuji seems to force the smile back. "My dad didn't find it quite so hilarious." Then a more natural smile comes onto his face, and Akira relaxes again. "Course he hardly found anything funny at all, so it woulda been weird if he had laughed." 

Akira nods, smiling softly as Ryuji looks up at him. He keeps the eye contact, just taking a moment to actually appreciate that sunshine smile of his. The brown eyes widen a little as his face flushes, and then he rubs the back of his neck, chuckling in embarrassment. 

"Haha, whoops. Guess I got off track talkin' about myself. What about you? You got any funny kid stories?" Ryuji diverts the conversation, which Akira is actually thankful for. He went to a weird mental place thinking about Ryuji's nice smile, and he didn't want to think about what that might mean for himself. Though, the subject it is diverted to is less than pleasing. The thief looks away, twisting a bit of his hair in between his fingers anxiously. 

"I don't know, there's not much to say. I was a pretty good kid, though a bit of a show off, I guess." Akira allows himself a small sentimental smile, something that doesn't go missed by Ryuji. It makes the blonde's heart ache inexplicably. "I fell off the school's play set so much that people thought I was getting beaten up." When the grey eyes look up to meet brown ones, the usually closed off captain realizes with embarrassment how heartfelt he was being. He looks down at his unfinished plate quickly, saying nothing more while drinking his water too quickly. 

Ryuji felt like he saw into something no one was supposed to see. It felt pretty great and scary at the same time. This 'Phantom Thief' that the news talked about was hardly the evil villain they made him out to be. He's just a guy. Ryuji thinks that if they met earlier, they might have been friends. When the thief glances up to meet his eyes again, only to look back down, Ryuji starts to think that they might just be friends anyway. 

The air isn't as tense or awkward as one would expect. Ryuji continues to talk about less ridiculous times and the meal passes on comfortably. Akira even gets his confidence back, but definitely is more closed off than before. 

"Well, thanks for the food! Even if it was as dry and tasteless as any other day." Ryuji teases, and Akira rolls his eyes. "Hey, when we land on Mentos do you think we might be able to get some actual food?" 

"It's _Me_ mentos, not Mentos. If we were going there, I'd have to get a coke and watch it explode." Akira's entirely serious response has Ryuji chuckling, though slightly embarrassed he got it wrong. The dark haired boy stands up and takes the empty plates and cups to the washer. "All those poor people on Mentos. 'Ahh, no, if only our planet were not made of chemicals that react explosively with the chemicals inside the popular and timeless drink, Coca-Cola!' And then fzzzzz boom, planet destroyed. All those poor people. Such a tragedy." Akira mutters this to himself in amusement, though loud enough that Ryuji hears anyway. The poor blonde is slightly disturbed now instead of embarrassed. He laughs cautiously, though Akira doesn't pay attention to him. 

"To answer your question, yes. I think we can treat ourselves to something decent after we visit the doctor." Akira confirms, turning to look at his fffffffriend with a small smile. His cheeks really were starting to hurt with how much he smiled today. On top of that, he actually felt... good. It didn't feel like something in his brain was trying to tug itself out through his eyes or like the flame in his stomach was tearing him apart from the inside. He just felt. Good. The flame in his stomach was extinguished by butterflies. He turns away quickly, coldly. 

"Well. Rest up. With the speed Morgana is going we should arrive in about two days." Akira says, not looking at Ryuji, his body missing the tormented feeling he usually felt instead of this fuzzy happy good feeling. It just wasn't right. 

"That's right, Captain! Nothing but clear skies ahead! Only empty space for miles before we reach Shinjuku." Morgana confirms. Akira is about to walk away when he is suddenly startled by Ryuji standing up so quickly that he knocks his chair over and bumps the table. 

"Shinjuku! Shit, that's the place they were gearing us up to fight for! Dammit! Is going there a good idea?" Ryuji looks worried, and the captain shares that worry. Morgana hums for a moment. 

"I haven't gotten any word of anything happening around there that would be on the scale of a war. I don't think Ohya would hold out on us about important details like that." Morgana reasons, but Akira still seems unhappy, leaning against the doorway with a grunt. 

"That's assuming she didn't try to reach us. We were pretty far off, maybe she couldn't get the message out." Akira's counter-reason had Morgana humming again. 

"Well, while we were around the central planets, I didn't see anything online or in the news about Shinjuku. I didn't look for anything specific though..." the two seemed worried, even if Morgana didn't even have a face. 

"Uh, sorry for worrying you both about this. I could be wrong." Ryuji spoke up sheepishly, flinching when Akira shot a look right at him. Only, the look wasn't sharp or unhappy at all, more comforting. Ryuji was a bit confused. 

"Don't feel bad. It's better to know what we might be running into. So, thanks, actually." Akira smiles thankfully and Ryuji can practically hear his heart sigh as if it were a person next to him. He clutches his chest and looks away, face hot. 

"Y-yeah. No prob." He replies. Akira's soft expression is traded for a more serious one, seeing how Ryuji looked away. For once, seeing somebody squirm in embarrassment because of him didn't fill him with mirth. It was probably because he didn't mean to make Ryuji flustered this time. He was just being nice, which he supposes is unfamiliar for the other. 

"Well, we won't know for sure until we get there, so we'll just have to be prepared for whatever comes our way." The captain states confidently. 

"Just like always, Joker!" Morgana cheers, and Joker nods. 

"Just like always." He agrees before heading out of the room. 

Ryuji feels a pang of guilt, and maybe a bit of jealousy. They were ready for whatever hits them. He can't even walk right. He wanted to help, but they were going to do this 'just like always' so he would probably just get in the way of their practiced plan. He hangs his head down and sighs, reaching a hand up to ruffle the hair on the back of his head. He then picks up the chair, carefully so that he doesn't fall. He always seemed to be the clumsiest when people were watching, and when he did succeed there would be nobody watching. Besides Morgana, in this case. 

He takes his crutches and goes to swing his away into the sitting area or something. Maybe check out one of those books Joker was talking about. Ryuji has good faith that the cool guy also has a cool taste in literature, and maybe in comics and manga too, if Ryuji could be so lucky. The sitting area was somewhat drab, clearly not used all too much. He looks at the barebones bookshelf and perishes the selection. The hell? Most of these were history books about people from Old Earth! He opens one about some chick called Carmen, mainly because the illustration of what could be assumed to be her was pretty. 

Ryuji flips through it as he sits down, looking for pictures. The paper felt really soft, like he was holding fabric instead. He has to be careful. He scans the book for a date, wondering when this Carmen lady was alive. His jaw drops when he sees that her history dated back to 1845! The woman was apparently fictional, according to the book, but still, someone had to write about her in order to exist! It boggles the mind, really, imagining people in 1845. Civilization has been around for a long time, he marvels. 

"You alright? You look astounded." Joker's voice cuts through Ryuji's thoughts, and he looks up to find the phantom stepping silently into the room. Ryuji nods, carefully holding up the book. 

"This says that the concept of this chick was created in 1845! 18! 40! 5!" He emphasizes by splitting the numbers up as if that would make it more poignant. Akira twiddled with a bit of his hair and nods. 

"Yeah, right? You've gotta wonder what it was like back then." The dark haired man sits down in an armchair across from Ryuji's position on the couch. 

"Yeah, humanity's been alive for a long time, hasn't it." Ryuji grins, looking uplifted. "We must be a pretty hardy bunch to survive that long, and continue to grow!" Akira tilts his head thoughtfully, a smile toying with the edge of his lips. Ryuji's cheerfulness was almost too much to bear. 

Ryuji turns back to his book, looking through it quickly before growing bored just as quickly. He pulls out another book, and Akira leans up to try and sneakily see what it is. Ryuji catches him in the act, and helpfully shows him the cover. 

"Captain Kidd, it says. He's a pirate." Ryuji explains before comfortably flipping through it. It seems like he was actually reading this time, brown eyes wide and glinting with interest. Akira simply watches him, the blonde too involved in his book to see he was being stared at. 

"Dude," Ryuji says after a while of silence except for the flipping of pages. "This guy was effing awesome. One day, I think I wanna sail on an ocean in a wooden boat. Do they make those anymore?" Ryuji looks up with his question, not bothered by Akira's gaze in the slightest. 

"I don't know if they do. Depends on who 'they' is." The captain has a warm look on his face, and Ryuji hopes that it stays that way. He didn't want to go back to the hot glares and cold shoulders. Hot as in temperature, he means. Obviously. 

"Does Mementos have an ocean?" Ryuji asks next, pulling his good leg up and carefully lifting the bad one to lay sideways on the couch, still able to see the other. 

"I don't know, I've never really looked. I should think it does, the terraformers wanted to make each planet as earth-like as possible. But who knows, every planet has a different reaction to it." Akira explains, lifting a hand up. Ryuji was giving him this wide eyed, almost enamored look on his face. 

"You know a lot about stuff." The guy says smartly. "Even if it's a lot of stuff I thought was boring, I like it when you talk about it better. You've got a pretty nice voice." This confession takes Akira back a few pegs in the game of try-to-run-away-from-all-emotions he constantly plays. This kid had to be messing with him, nobody says that kind of thing to a simple acquaintance. They were barely even closer than strangers, and he goes and says some intimate thing like that. The inflection in his voice even hinted to higher feelings, god dammit! Ryuji had to be aware of what he was doing, nobody could be that dense. 

"Joker?" Ryuji's voice finally pulls him back into the ship. 

"Huh?" 

"You okay? Your face got all red and you spaced out something major, I was calling your name like five times." Ryuji seemed concerned, and Akira stands up quickly, waving his hands in front of him. 

"Nah, no, I'm alright. Lost in thought." He explains. Ryuji seems to accept this answer and relaxes into the cushions. 

"You must think really hard about things then." He says, closing his eyes and folding them across his chest as he lay flat on his back. 

"I guess you could say that." Akira scratches the back of his neck, shifting his weight awkwardly. "Sometimes it gives me headaches." He isn't sure why he added that last part, even if it was true. He didn't need Ryuji to know that. 

"Aw, that sucks man. My mom would get migraines from time to time. She's stay in bed in total darkness for hours, and get kinda snippy if I opened the door." Ryuji doesn't open his eyes, recounting the times he sat outside his mom's door, waiting for her to come out and eat something. He doesn't see Akira's smile, nor does he see Akira sit back down.

Instead, he yawns. His leg was throbbing uncomfortably but at least it wasn't shooting pain. The medicine Joker gave him was really helpful, but seemed to be wearing off from the morning. 

"Sometimes when I couldn't sleep, she'd sing for me. I tried to do the same once, but my voice was too loud. I prolly shouldn't'a tried it one of the days she had a headache." Ryuji continues, words slower. Akira tilts his head curiously as the other seemed to be falling asleep right in front of him. That was practically unheard of. How much does this guy trust him, apparently enough to be comfortably unconscious near him. Akira shakes his head. 

"Idiot." He comments, looking at the poor sap who seemed to be just too pure. Part of him wanted to take that, use the moment and rip apart his misplaced trust in front of his scared brown eyes. 

"Hey, 's'mean." His guest slurs, head falling to the side limply. Akira watches him breathe, mesmerized. How easy it would be to snuff that out, stop that rise and fall of his chest. And Ryuji would never have seen it coming. 

Akira tilts his head to the other side, frowning. His guest looked so peaceful. It was weird, loving this sensation and hating it at the same time. Trust. He smiles softly as a bit of saliva starts to fall out of Ryuji's open mouth. He decides that he kind of likes this feeling of trust, more than he hates it. 

That moment, Akira silently vows to protect this boy until they parted ways. His intrusive thoughts would just have to suck it, just like always. He hadto keep him safe, because if he himself can think of taking advantage of him, anyone else can. That just won't do. He crosses one leg over the other, resting his elbow on the arm of the chair and his face on the hand held up by it. He idly hopes that Ryuji sleeps well, and after a while of watching, Akira lets his eyes close as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're curious about the beginning of Ryuji's story, that makes two of us. What's with the mint? What did the teacher do to warrant 2nd grader Ryuji's wrath? What's with the mint?? The world may never know. Or it will. That's the thing about not knowing, you just don't know.  
> Thanks for reading I'm always glad! Also comments and kudos fuel me into writing more and also brighten up my day!  
> (/^u^)/~*


	6. Friendship Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Friendship" is a term lost on Joker. He doesn't have friends, he has allies. But maybe, just maybe, that could change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping the pacing of this isn't too slow or something? It's been like 6 chapters and it's only been like 2 days in story. Is that weird? Idk. Anyway, yeah, enjoy, and let me know what you think, even if there's something you don't like and want to point out, I'm always open to constructive criticism.

Ryuji wakes up with a crick in his neck and a pain in his leg. He groans, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the couch. He absentmindedly rubs the wet off his cheek. Ugh, drooled again, he hates when that happens, so gross. Ryuji yawns, stretching his arms and rolls his head around to crack his neck. Then, he looks over to the armchair that held a sleeping Joker. He was surprised that the elusive phantom was actually there, and almost didn't believe his own eyes. Ryuji feels a little honored to be trusted so much, originally thinking that this Phantom Thief guy would be likely to sleep behind a locked door with one eye open around strangers. 

Joker was leaning to the right side of the chair, head resting on his shoulder. Ryuji jealously thinks that he looks attractive even when asleep. He was sure that he himself looked like a mess, but here was Joker, looking all peaceful and serene. It wasn't fair. 

Ryuji is startled out of his staring as Akira groans unhappily, his calm looking face twisting into one of pain. It lasted only a moment, but it was still weird. Then it happens again, though this time his body moves with it, like he was trying to curl in on himself. The thief unconsciously wrapped his arms tightly around his chest, knuckles turning white from how hard his fist clenched his shirt. His breathing quickened, as if it weren't getting enough air. His mouth opened slightly and Ryuji could see him quivering, making choked noises like he was trying to say something. The pained look was more fearful now, and Ryuji sat up straight in worry, wanting to go over there and wake him up. 

A forced sounding shout escapes the dreamer's mouth, the noise waking him up with a start. Akira jumped, eyes flying open, scanning around the room quickly before landing on Ryuji. The fearful look is forced off his face, and Akira tries to play it off like nothing, pulling his fingers through his hair and sitting up. He would almost look nonchalant, if it weren't for the way his breathing was still too fast and his hands were shaking. 

"Uh, good morning." Akira mumbles before Ryuji could say anything. It turns out his speedy interruption does not matter, because he asks the question Akira was trying to avoid anyway. 

"You alright? Bad dream?" Ryuji's face held honest concern, and Akira almost felt like he could tell him. 

"I'd rather you don't do that." He replies coldly while rubbing his eyes. The panic he seemed to be in was dying down, or being forcibly drowned. 

"Do what?" Ryuji asks, frowning. 

"Worry about me." Akira shoots a grumpy look at the blonde who seems to get the message. For a moment, at least long enough for Akira to use the silence to get up and start skulking his way back to his room. 

"You know that's not going to happen. I'll worry whether you like it or not!" Ryuji calls after him, receiving no response. 

Akira heads directly to his room, steps quick and less silent than usual. Morgana watches him down the hall, also having heard the whole conversation. The ship felt like it wasn't his place to interrupt then. Once in Akira gets to the safety of his room, Morgana finally can speak privately to the captain. 

"You know, you really can't stop people from worrying or asking about you. I worry too, you know!" Morgana whines, Akira doesn't even look up. 

"Yeah. It'd be better if they didn't, though. Didn't care about me, only keep me around while I'm being _good_. Cause a single problem and I'm nothing but a nuisance." He grumbles before falling face first into his bed. "It'd be better if they never cared at all, never gave me that false hope." Morgana makes a noise that sounds like a disapproving click of the tongue. 

"Was the dream that bad? I know they get really nasty sometimes but you can't let it effect you this much. You know that's not true..." he sounds sad, almost. Akira shoves his face further into his blankets. 

"It's true! I wouldn't be here if it weren't." He snaps, voice muffled by the fluffy comforter. 

"Oh, is it really that bad being here? There's nothing you actually like about traveling the skies with me?" Morgana sounds dejected. Akira sits up quickly. 

"It is! We could be comfortable, living somewhere exciting but safe, knowing what food is for dinner, knowing that we even _have_ food at all, exploring the skies for leisure and not as an escape. We could have TV, money, people who won't try to backstab us, access to the internet, everything! But no, we're out here. Stuck in space delivering stolen medicines to a derelict town that probably won't survive even if they use them anyway. Stuck with some goofy ex-Union Soldier who brings a whole shit load of unwanted feelings. You know, I can almost understand why people say that men go crazy when they reach the edge of the solar system. Nothing but empty space for who knows how far. Nothing. Nothing..." he clenches his fists into his blanket, hoping he doesn't tear it apart. "Calm down..." he tells himself, and it actually seems to work. His breathing evens out and he falls to his side on the bed. 

"Akira..." Morgana says after a moment, using the name Joker thought he programmed out of his system. The boy doesn't seem to care about it, though. "You can't go on wishing for something you don't have. You have to work for it, or find your place where you already are. I know I'm just some dumb A.I. but I have feelings too, and even if I could walk away, I would still want to stay with you. You're not alone. And Ryuji is here too, if you need him." Akira snorts derisively at that thought. Morgana continues. "With the way he looks at you, I'm certain he would be happy to help you." 

Akira takes this information in for a moment, sighing. He didn't want to think about it right now, or ever. Who has the energy to think about their thoughts anyway? He moves up until his head was on the pillow and his body tucked under the blanket. 

"Whatever. Wake me when we get there." Akira grumbles, ignoring anything else Morgana has to say. 

Morgana is fine with ignoring the big grump too, having found a better conversation partner anyway. Ryuji was still confused and worried, as well as hopping his way into the infirmary. He startles when Morgana speaks. 

"Hey Ryuji. Sorry. Hey, are you doing okay? You look-" Morgana gets cut off, which is surprising coming from this guest. 

"Am _I_ fine? Oh, I'm dandy as can be despite my leg and all. Who you should be asking that question isn't me, though. Seriously, there's obviously something wrong with him! Why can't he just let me help him?" Ryuji starts off fiery, finishing a little more whiney. Morgana tuts in a comforting yet belittling way. 

"Ryuji, you can't force him to talk. That wouldn't help, it would just get him pissed at you. Believe me, I tried. But I like to consider myself his closest ally! That being said, he doesn't even like talking about stuff with me. Don't be upset because he won't open up to you, it's just not his way of working." Morgana sighs, but Ryuji seems displeased, swallowing down a couple pain killer pills for his leg. 

"I don't need him to tell me everything though, I just want him to see that he doesn't have to be alone." Ryuji sighs, pushing himself up to sit on the exam table. "I wish I had someone that told me that while I was in training. I thought those people that got recruited when I did could become friends to me, close allies with an unbreakable bond. I stayed friendly, they stayed distant. They didn't like my blatant hatred for Kamoshida, and left me to deal with him alone. And then they left me in that field, knowing, _seeing_ what just happened. That's when I got reckless and ran away in that pod you found me in." The blonde's shoulders bump up in a derisive laugh. "Heh. I knew I was going to die out there. No supplies, no nothing. Just me, metal, and the black. It would've been fitting, you know? Dying alone. It wasn't like anyone besides my mother would miss me. Yeah, that was my one regret while floating in that ship. I wouldn't get to say bye to her." Ryuji wipes a tear off his cheek, not sure when he started crying. It was only a couple drops, but it was enough to blur his vision for a moment as he rubs his eyes and face. He laughs again, an ugly, sad sound. "Kinda pathetic, I guess." 

"Ryuji, no!" Morgana says insistently, his loud and high voice slicing through the darkness surrounding the once so sunny boy. "The only thing you're pathetic in is your attitude. Your skills in plan making could use work too, not to mention your tact. Also I feel like your vocabulary could use some help. But forget about that! You didn't die out there, you were saved. You saved yourself, actually. You called for us to help, otherwise we would have shrugged off your passing us and continued to move onward." Ryuji sniffles, looking up at the ceiling and trying to imagine the fuzzy image in his mind of a human Morgana smiling. "And you'll get to see your mom again. Don't worry about that. We'll make sure you can be with her. Promise." 

"Pinky swear?" Ryuji asks, gaining back his little joking self. 

"I don't have a pinky." Morgana replies like it was obvious. Ryuji smiles and shakes his head in mock disappointment. 

"Well, then I guess I won't be able to trust you. You know every promise is sealed by a pinky swear." Ryuji actually sounds serious, and Morgana laughs. 

"Is that what you do where you come from? From what I know, it's mostly kids that do that sort of thing. Pinky swearing to keep a secret from little prying ears." Morgana states, clearly not taking the idea seriously. Ryuji was in the same mindset moments ago, but now he felt offended that the sanctity of a Pinky Swear was being belittled. 

"Well, it doesn't matter how old you are. A pinky swear lasts forever." The last line has Ryuji flashing back to his child self, when troubles were dealt with for you and girls had cooties and math didn't have letters in it. It was something he had said himself, whispering it shyly to the girl he liked when they promised to see each other again even after she moved away. He never saw her again. So much for lasting forever. 

Morgana chuckles, and Ryuji could almost see him condescendingly shaking his head. 

"You are a bit ridiculous, Ryuji. But I do intend to keep my promise. Where are you from? We can take you there I'm sure." Morgana sounds optimistic until Ryuji names one of the innermost Central Core planets, a place completely run by and guarded by the exact people they were running from, the Alliance. " _What_?! You can't be serious! We can't even get close to that, we'd get pulled over for at least 5 vehicle checks, and that's assuming we make it past the first one!" Ryuji slumps forward, looking sadly at the ground. 

"Oh... yeah, I shoulda thought about that." The blonde sits still for a moment, breathing in deeply. Then, he lifts his head up and smiles, holding a thumbs up towards the ceiling. "It's fine! Don't worry about that promise, we didn't pinky swear so you don't gotta keep it. I'll just find another way home." He winks, laughing gently at his tease. 

"You mean... you're okay?" Morgana sounds incredulous, like Ryuji would break down suddenly. The boy just shakes his head, keeping that reassuring smile. 

"Yeah! Don't worry about me, dude. You think I'm gonna give up just cuz this plan won't work? Then you don't know Ryuji Sakamoto!" The cheerful boy jabs his thumb into his chest proudly. Then he adopts a more serious look, but nothing is dark in it at all. "I am disappointed it won't work, of course. Actually upset, really. Sad, if you wanna say that too. But I can deal with it, dealt with it plenty before. I'm not gonna let it get me down." He smiles warmly, and Morgana makes an "awwww" noise. 

"Ryuji, that was so well said! I'm surprised! Gosh, I wish Joker could hear that optimism, might get him outa his funk." Morgana sighs forlornly. Ryuji matches the sad sound from Morgana's speakers with the expression on his face. 

"He's so weird. One minute he's totally silent and barely even there, the next he's laughing and talking and smiling, and then next he's brooding and totally walled off. I don't get it. And it seems like he's got so much confidence but like, I know what faking that looks like." Ryuji pouts in frustration. "I'm no doctor, but I think he needs a hug." At this suggestion, Morgana cackles hysterically. 

"Oh, I'd _love_ to see you try! I wonder if he'd stab you or run away, or both. Then again, he has been tolerating you sitting close to him, you even got to lean on his shoulder. You might actually be able to do it. But then again, knife. Y'know, weigh your options." Morgana chuckles at a bewildered Ryuji. 

"I don't think I'd get stabbed. I bet if I tell him before I do it, he'd be more likely to accept it." Ryuji slowly looks more determined, nodding to himself. 

"I don't think that'll work, Ryuji." Morgana sounds like he pities the human, and Ryuji sucks in a deep breath, puffing out his chest. 

"Well I'm gonna try it anyway! Next time I see 'im, it's hug time." The blonde says this decisively, standing up on his one leg again before using his crutches to make his way out of the infirmary. Morgana figures that meant the discussion was done. He just hopes Ryuji doesn't get himself stabbed. 

Ryuji decides to go back to the sitting area and look at the other books. History, history, history. It just didn't seem so cool at the moment for him. He sighs, looking around for anything else to do. His eyes land on the pack of cards he left on the coffee table. Shrugging, he picks them up and sits down, leaning forward to reach the table. He spreads them out, flipping through the cards leisurely. Ryuji stops when he finds the Ace of Hearts, and he holds it up with a small nostalgic smile. It was only earlier today, but it was still a good memory. 

Bored, Ryuji drops the card back down and it skids across the table, miraculously not falling off the other end. Then, after seeing more of the heart cards, he gets an idea. Ryuji collects all the heart cards and slides the rest away, clearing a space. Then, he starts arranging them in the shape of a heart. Genius. Finished, Ryuji sits back to admire his hard work that took like 30 seconds. It was lovely. A heart made out of cards. Specifically made of the suit of hearts. Again, _genius_. Artistic, really. Nobody has ever thought of this before, surely. 

Ryuji cracks a grin at this thought. Of course they have, this idea was fucking dumb. However, his eye catches on the corner of a card sticking out from the messy pile. The Joker. Ryuji picks it up, looking at it for a moment. The joker on the card looked totally ridiculous, how did this guy get to be considered an icon of cool? He tries to imagine Joker in the same outfit and snorts, shaking his head. Those colors would be so unfitting on him. 

He drops the card and it happens to land in the center of the heart. Ryuji blinks, looking at the fitting accident. A heart surrounding Joker... Ryuji felt like a damn schoolgirl scribbling her crush's name in the corner of her notebook. Not like it was a crush, in the strictest sense of the word! More of a friend-crush. Like he wants to be good friends. Dating would just be weird. Kissing Joker, pfffft, that would be... would be... 

Ryuji scrambles the cards back up and shoves them in the box. He wasn't going to let his mind go where it was headed. Of course, his clearly flustered movements attract the attention of the ever watching ship. 

"You alright there? Looked like you had some sort of conniption." Morgana sounded more curious than worried, and Ryuji smiles forcefully. 

"Yup! All is good! Just uh, cleaning up the cards, yeah." He responds too quickly. Morgana huffs and would have probably rolled his eyes if he could have. 

"Riiiiight. I saw that heart, Ryuji. You're so immature. Honestly I don't know what he sees in you. I always thought he went for more, how do I put this, smart people." Morgana sighs again, and Ryuji glares at the ceiling. 

"Hey! I'm plenty smart! The hell you mean implying I'm not smart? Piss off." Ryuji spits his words out angrily, honestly feeling a little hurt. 

"Not that I'm saying I don't think you're good for him! I think he needs someone who can make him laugh like you can, romantic partner or not. I guess I just misjudged his type." Morgana continues, throwing Ryuji's anger off track. The fists he had clenched loosened in his slight confusion. "Or maybe I'm completely wrong, and I can't read him at all and he actually doesn't like you. I don't think that's it, though." 

"Wait wait, what the shit are you talking about? His type? Romantic? Y-you've got it wrong, Morgana. I'm not like that!" Ryuji puts his hands up defensively. His words sounded flimsy even to himself, and he momentarily wishes he could step out through the airlock. Morgana scoffs with a small hint of amusement. 

"Sure. Whatever you say. Look, all I wanna say is just... treat him right. I may be made of metal and expert programming, but I'm still technically alive. He's the only family I've got. Now go be in denial or whatever, were getting close to Mementos, I'm gonna need to focus on getting there. Meteors in orbit and stuff, gotta avoid them." Morgana is silent after that, leaving Ryuji alone with his confusion. 

Denial? Denial of what? He will admit full well that he likes Joker. He will admit that he wants to get to know him better. But Ryuji doesn't want to know him _that much_ better! He puts the cards down on the coffee table and gets up before quickly making his way back to his room. If he was going to think about any feelings or anything, he was going to do it with his face shoved in a pillow. 

He isn't so lucky, finding Joker in the dining area as he passes through. By the face the guy was making, he didn't exactly want to run into Ryuji either. Akira was just filling a bottle of water, but his body tensed like he was caught doing something he shouldn't. The two stand there for a minute before Ryuji just awkwardly continues through the room. 

"Morgana said we're gettin' close to Mementos." Ryuji comments over his shoulder as he passes by. 

"I know." The captain replies, capping off his bottle. Ryuji is nearly through the room when he speaks again. "Um!" His voice is sudden but strangely filled with uncertainty. Ryuji turns around to see him leaning coolly against the wall, looking off to the side. 

"... yeah?" Ryuji says after the other doesn't say anything more. Joker shifts on his feet, tossing the water bottle back and forth between his hands. 

"It's pretty cool to look out the window as Morgana lands." The dark haired male is quiet for a moment, and Ryuji opens his mouth to ask if there was anything else he wanted to say but he doesn't get the chance. "The cockpit is the best place." He adds, and Ryuji raises his eyebrows. 

"Are you inviting me or is this just a fun fact?" He asks, tilting his head, eyes following the bottle as it tosses between the other's hands. 

"It's up to you." Joker replies, finally looking at Ryuji. He stops tossing the bottle and holds it firmly in both hands. "I'll be there." He adds, standing still a moment just staring before turning and going down the hall to the cockpit. Ryuji stays where he stands, confusion written on his face. Morgana was busy flying, so he probably didn't catch any of that. The blonde shakes his head before moving himself over towards the way Joker went to follow him. The guy was weird, so Ryuji just decides to stop questioning him. 

When he gets up to the cockpit, he sees that Joker is standing towards the front of the startlingly large room. That being said, Ryuji hasn't really been in a cockpit before so he didn't know how big they usually come. He moves towards the other, the clinking of his crutches making it clear that he was approaching. Ryuji hopes he wouldn't have to sneak anywhere, there was nothing stealthy about this. 

"Hey." Joker greets him amicably, not moving to look at him or anything. Ryuji makes his way up next to him and stands there, looking out at the big planet in front of them. 

"That's Mementos?" He asks, awed. 

"Yeah." Joker has a small smirk on his face when Ryuji glances over. 

"It's..." He continues, chewing on the word he wanted to use to describe the planet. 

"Foreboding? Intimidating? Sinister? ... creepy?" Joker suggests, monotone as ever. 

"I was gonna say red, but those work too." Ryuji cracks a smile, and he can see the amused look on the other's face as well. 

It was true, the planet was basically a globe of swirling red smoke, almost intangible. It looked sinister indeed, like the smoke would suffocate anything upon entering it. Ryuji frowns as they get closer. 

"We're actually going into it? Isn't that like, a storm or something?" Ryuji was sure that it had to be clouds of some sort, and if they were that thick it had to be a storm. Joker shakes his head. 

"That's the whole planet. The sky is red due to the fog that covers basically everything. People say it's like this because the dirt of the planet before was red, and when they terraformed, the dust that came up mixed in the wind and clouds and made the sky turn red." He shrugs. "I don't think that's how it works, but it doesn't matter. The sky is red and the fog is thick unless you're in a city. The tall buildings block the wind from carrying whatever the fog is made of into the streets." 

"Is it safe to breathe?" Ryuji asks, looking worried. Once again, Joker shrugs. 

"People live there, so I guess so." 

They redirect their attention silently to the window again, watching the planet grow closer and closer. After a while, Ryuji sighs and carefully lowers himself to the floor. He stretches his legs out in front of him, looking up and out of the window. Joker looks down at him for a moment before sinking down to the floor next to him. They sit in silence, but it isn't awkward. Though, as they grow closer to the planet, Ryuji starts to get a bit more anxious. 

"So. This doctor will fix me up, right? Like I'll be able to walk normally again, right?" 

"She better." The brief response does not ease Ryuji's feelings in the slightest. 

"I don't get why the Alliance would even want a city on this place? It sounded kinda shitty the way you described it." Ryuji asks after another short while of silence. 

"Pride. As long as there is a thriving Independent city, there is a chink in their pride. The whole of space cannot be unified if one city refuses unification. It's a threat." Joker's explanation has Ryuji nodding thoughtfully. 

"I think I'm starting to feel a bit treasonous." Ryuji chuckles, happy to hear Joker laugh a little as well. 

"Welcome to the dark side." The thief leans over to bump Ryuji's shoulder, and with a grin, Ryuji leans to bump Joker's shoulder right back. They share another moment of peaceful silence before the ship starts to shake a little. 

"Beginning descent! Don't bump your heads while we breach atmo." Morgana informs them cheerfully. Ryuji wiggles in place excitedly and Akira smiles a little, fondly. 

They look out of the window as they descend into red, the color surrounding them and filling the room with its hue. Akira looks over at the other's face, the red glowing off Ryuji's grin. It's a little captivating, more interesting than the fire outside the window as Morgana lets gravity bring them down. Just because Akira didn't want these feelings doesn't mean he doesn't still have them. He still will find the way his heart feels warm whenever he sees that smile to be entirely annoying no matter what. 

Meanwhile, Ryuji was loving this and completely oblivious to the grey eyes watching him so closely. Fiery colors danced across the window as they fell, and a weightless feeling in his stomach was delightfully sickening. He felt alive, he felt awed. He barely noticed the word from the person next to him being said, but it's enough to catch his attention. 

"Huh? What'd you say?" Ryuji looks at the usually cool and collected captain curiously, surprised to find that he was gazing right back at him. 

"My name. I don't go by Joker while a civilian. You should know..." he starts, looking uneasy. Ryuji's eyes widen with interest. "My name. It's..." he hesitates, before looking down. "You can call me Akira." He finally says, the words coming out quickly. Ryuji's look of interest turns into one of joy. The excitable blonde grabs Akira by the shoulders and pulls him into a hug. 

"You told me your name!" Ryuji joyfully exclaims, ignoring the way the body in his arms was incredibly tense. "I promise I won't tell anyone else. Pinkie promise." Akira relaxes before pushing Ryuji back, smiling fondly again even though he seemed to want to look agitated. 

"That's so childish." He remarks, but Ryuji just grins wider, actually holding up his pinkie. Akira looks between his face and his hand a couple times before rolling his eyes and linking their pinkies together. Ryuji laughs victoriously, slapping Akira on the back jovially after they release from that "unbreakable bond." 

"I'm glad. Thanks for telling me, man- Akira!" His smile is friendly, and Akira can't help but feel... good. Maybe being friends wouldn't be so bad. Maybe he could get used to this, enjoy it for however long it may last. The ship slows its descent as Morgana looks for a place to park, seeming to focus around a less bright and bustling part of the city. With their landing just outside of the city, Akira smiles back, unhindered and genuinely happy. 

"Yeah."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Akira catches feelings like an illness. Also, if you were wondering about the setup and look of the ship, I basically just imagine it as a cleaner and more minimalistic version of Serenity from Firefly. The layout is questionable in this though, so I apologize for mind image confusion caused by the unspecifics. But I'm yammering on so anyway!!  
> Comments and kudos brighten my life, especially comments like I love to see that little Inbox (1) when I check in c:


	7. Old Haunts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Takemi Tae is an amazing medical practitioner. An amazing, unsettling, somewhat scary medical practitioner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while hasn't it! I'm so sorry for the wait on this fic, my motivation train has been taking off in different directions so I hadn't been working on this fic much at all. But here's an update! I hope it's enjoyable

Morgana settled onto solid ground and the ship stilled. The lack of movement made Ryuji's body feel all weird. He hopes it doesn't affect his walking, since it was already pretty shitty to begin with, having to use crutches and all. Further unbalance would just be worse. 

As the dust settled around the ship, the window became clearer, but there wasn't much to see outside. Red mist covered everything, making it hard to tell what was out there. Ryuji cranes his neck from where he sits on the floor, trying to look out better. 

"We here? This is Mementos?" Next to him, Akira stands up and stretches. He nods, making a short hum of confirmation. Ryuji almost doesn't notice when he offers a hand to help him to his feet. "Oh! Cool, thanks." Ryuji takes the offer and puts his hand into the other's firm grasp. Once standing, they look out the window into what seemed to be nothing. 

"We landed on abandoned farm land, so we'll have to take the shuttle to get into the city. Morgana won't be able to fit in the streets." With that, Akira turns to leave the cockpit and waves his hand in a signal for Ryuji to follow. He follows without question. 

"You've even got a shuttle attached to this thing?" Ryuji was impressed, not thinking that a ship this size would have a shuttle attachment. 

"'This thing?' Hey! I'm not some thing, I'm Morgana!" Speakers once again crackled on, startling Ryuji for a moment. 

"Whoops! Sorry. You've even got a shuttle attached to this Morgana?" Ryuji revises his previous statement, causing Akira to roll his eyes from in front of him. 

"Hrrm, okay. I'll accept that." Morgana begrudgingly huffs. "But you are right, after all. I have a shuttle attachment because I am just that amazing~!" The ship giggles proudly, and Ryuji is sure that there would be a smug or cocky grin on Morgana's face if he had one. 

Soon enough, they reach this amazing shuttle attachment. Akira opens the door to let Ryuji in first. The shuttle was cute and cozy, the main part of it filled with comfortable seating and a table. There was a curtain across one entire side, and Ryuji guesses that the pilot's chair is behind it. He takes a quick peek as he waits for Akira to finish his goodbyes. It all looks like a bunch of buttons and switches begging to be messed with, but he doesn't dare touch any. Instead he sits himself down in the chair closest to the curtain. 

"We'll be fine, stop worrying." Akira's annoyed voice could be heard through the doorway as he talked with Morgana, their exchange humorously reminding Ryuji of a parent/teenager conversation. 

"Okay. You let me know if anything goes wrong, I'm just a phone call away. Remember to check in with me every so often so I know you're okay too. Stay safe out there, stay aware of your surroundings, a-" Akira cuts his ship off with another cheerful goodbye and shuts the door, blocking out whatever it was that Morgana was saying. Akira sighs in relief. 

"Okay, let's be off." He says cheerfully and sits down in the pilot's chair. He then starts fiddling with buttons and switches and the vehicle comes to life. Akira reaches into a little drawer (sci-fi glove compartment) and pulls out a pair of big rounded glasses. He slips them onto his nose and pulls out of Morgana's docking port. 

"You need glasses to drive?" Ryuji asks with a curious raised eyebrow. Then his eyes widen a little. "What about your Thief clothes! You're not going out wearing the trench coat and mask and shit?" Akira shakes his head, keeping his eyes on the road. 

"The people around here don't know that I'm Joker. The key part of leading a double life is having two lives to lead. Around here, I'm just Akira." He adjusts his glasses. "I don't need these, they're purely cosmetic. People are less likely to think some frizzy nerd with glasses is up to no good, probably." 

"Well, you pull off the frizzy nerd look well, you really look pretty dorky." Ryuji snorts, a grin spreading across his face. He also thought that Akira looked kinda cool in the glasses despite their purpose, but he wasn't going to admit to it. 

"Yeah? And you pull off the look of a beat up hooligan who's worn the same clothes for three days well too." Akira glances over from the road to smirk at Ryuji, who shrugs in response. 

"Ehh, not like I got much choice. These are all I got. B'sides, I didn't see you offering me anything to wear." Ryuji crosses his arms confidently, knowing that he's won this back and forth conversation this time. Akira rolls his eyes and concedes to Ryuji's victory. 

"Good point. Hey, I'll take you shopping when your leg is fixed up. Get you something to wear." The pilot takes a moment to run his fingers through his tangled black hair, almost looking nervous somehow. 

"For real? Sweet! Hey, how long do you think 'til I can walk again?" Ryuji bounces excitedly in his seat, the hovering craft shaking a little with each bump. The promise of new, clean clothes was way awesome, and the sound of how Akira was talking made it seem like it wouldn't be long for Ryuji to heal. 

"I don't know, we'all have to see what Dr. Takemi can do for you. I've seen her do pretty crazy things that actually end up working." Akira nods decisively. "Whatever happens, I'm 93% sure that she will take good care of you." 

"That's good." Ryuji smiles, comforted until it clicks in his head. Then he shoots to sit upright again, jaw dropped. "Wait, What'd'ya mean _93_?! Isn't that a little low for comfort?" 

At this, Akira laughs but provides no real response. 

Through the thick fog, a rectangular shadow appears in the distance. The more Ryuji leans to look out the front window, the more he is wowed by the upcoming city. The pair come across a main road and take it into the city. Ryuji leans so far forward in his seat that he is dangerously close to tumbling out of it, but he doesn't care, eyes wide as they drive through the tall buildings. 

"Whoaaaa. This is Shinjuku? It's so neon..." he mutters, awed. Akira glances at him with an endeared smirk. 

"Yep. It's pretty neat." Akira turns off of the central road and heads through thinner streets until the neon lights dwindled and the atmosphere turned grey again. Ryuji pouted, disappointed to be heading for the backstreets and away from the excitement. 

They come across an empty lot that Akira pulls into like a parking spot. He kills the engine on the shuttle and gets out of his chair. Ryuji keeps his eyes out the window to survey the drab walls around the area as Akira opens the door. With some help, Ryuji steps out of the shuttle and onto the ground. 

"This is Shinjuku..? It's kinda..." Ryuji looks around pensively searching for the right word. Akira gestures for him to follow as he supplies an answer. 

"Disappointing?" Akira's vocabulary suggestion has Ryuji nodding as he looks around. 

"Yeah. The main city was cool and all but this place is hella lame. The Alliance is comin' after all of this?" Ryuji shakes his head slowly. "Like I'd get it if this was all like it was back there, but the whole neon thing was really only a couple streets, wasn't it?" 

"Yeah. Most of the funds for this city goes into making the central city as flashy as possible, leaving very little for upkeep in neighborhoods like these." Akira clenches his jaw with an internal frustration that showed quite obviously. Ryuji doesn't comment on that, instead just agreeing that "yeah, that sucks ass, dude." 

In silence, the two continue through the dirty and narrow streets. There was barely enough room for a hover bike to get through some of these alleys. They pass a girl and her dog playing with a worn tennis ball, an old man next to a crackling radio that hardly anything comprehensible came from, and a man in a messy suit stumbling around raving about how he's a disappointment as a mother. Akira keeps a quick pace, barely giving Ryuji time to even nod at the people in greeting. 

Finally, the the leader stops in front of a door. The nameplate next to it said "Takemi Medical Clinic." However, Akira stood there for a moment, hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched. At first glance he would look like any other disinterested teen, but closer inspection showed that his muscles were actually held rather tight. 

"Hey man, y-" Ryuji barely gets his concerned question out before Akira is pushing the door open and stepping inside. Ryuji follows him in, letting the door loudly click shut on its own behind him. 

"Hello, welcome to- oh!" The tired looking woman behind the counter barely raised her head before greeting them, her voice monotone and robotic, like it was a practiced phrase. However, when her dark eyes look up at Akira, her entire demeanor changes. A scary sort of excitement floods her face, and Ryuji feels rather than sees Akira shift his feet next to him. "Long time no see, my little guinea pig!" She greets, and Ryuji turns to look at his friend with concern. 

"Guinea pig?" Ryuji repeats, hoping for clarification on what the hell she was talking about. He does not receive clarification, or even an acknowledgment from either of them. 

"What brings you here?" She asks, leaning against her hands in interest. Her gaze shifts over to Ryuji and his mouth suddenly feels very dry. "Did you bring me another test subject?" She smirks, making Ryuji feel like he was prey about to be eaten alive. 

"A-another?" He squeaks out, looking nervously to Akira. The light reflecting off of his glasses prohibit Ryuji from even seeing his eyes. Just as he starts to wonder if he's been duped and is about to become a test subject for a maniacal experiment of horror movie proportions, the lady laughs. 

"Kidding!" She says cheerfully, and Ryuji starts to wonder if this woman had anything to do with Akira's upbringing, seeing as they were both sadistic trickstery bastards. 

"He has a broken leg." Akira speaks up now, his voice serious and unamused. That isn't to say he didn't find the prank funny, he actually found it pretty great, but he had business here that he needed to take care of. 

"Is that so? Well then, meet me in the exam room and I will see what I can do." She sighs and stands up, the distinct sound of high heels clink as she exits through a door to the right. Akira leads Ryuji through a similar door, and soon enough he is sitting on the exam table with his bad leg out for the doctor to examine. 

"Is there anything you can do for it? I wanna be able to walk again, y'know. Run too. Can you fix it?" Ryuji doesn't want to seem desperate but he sure as hell felt desperate. She didn't comment on his tone, just examined his bruised and crooked calf thoroughly. 

"You really did a number on this... I'm curious how you received such bad trauma, but I won't ask unless necessary." With a sigh, the doctor leans back, frowning at his leg. Ryuji took that as a bad sign and tapped his fingers against his seat anxiously to move some part of his body at least. 

"Will you be able to fix it?" He asks, more like pleads. She frowns further and turns away, making his heart drop into his stomach. 

"I won't be able to answer that for certain until I see the damage through an x-ray." She flips through a few papers quickly, searching for something. "Really, you shouldn't have come to me. A hospital would be better suited for this and have more resources available to you." 

"That isn't an option." Akira speaks up from the corner of the room he was leaning in, jumping right on the end of her words so there wasn't a moment to even take a breathe between where she stopped talking and he started. The woman grumbles in frustration, but commits herself to the task regardless. Ryuji started to see why Akira put his trust in doctor Takemi, she seems unprofessional ( _is_ unprofessional) but she works diligently, and her determination to do the best she can is obvious. 

It was surprising that she actually had an X-ray room, though Ryuji was hesitant when he thought about the possibility of radiation. Takemi assured him that if he got radiation poisoning then he wouldn't have to worry about his leg anymore. 

Through the X-ray, the three of them discovered that the break wasn't as bad as they initially thought. It might actually be worse. It wasn't just broken, of course, it was shattered in some places, and Takemi notes that it's amazing that it's held up as well as it has. 

"But is it fixable...?" Ryuji's voice is small, a rare show of pure vulnerability and fear. Akira eyes him from where he stands with pity. 

"Hm." Takemi does not respond right away, only worsening Ryuji's fears. But then she nods. "I believe I may be able to do something, if you are willing to give it a try." She still looks uncertain, but Ryuji is just filled with relief that at least there was a possibility of recovery. 

"Yeah! Yeah, anything! What do I gotta do?" Ryuji's excitement doesn't seem to shake the look of apprehension off of the doctor's face, and Akira wrinkles his eyebrows with concern. 

"Well. It isn't proven that it works yet, but I have come up with a certain... substance that may have the ability to mend bones at an accelerated pace." Takemi explains, leaning against her desk as she flips through her papers. "It has only worked during controlled tests, never tested outside of that. There is no telling what it could do to a real, human body." 

Akira stands up straighter from where he was standing and comes closer silently. Takemi looks at the ground, like she regrets saying this at all. 

"I cannot promise your safety or the success of this experiment. However..." she sighs, brightening up a little. "If it goes well, then this would not only be a success for you, but it would also be an incredible step forward in medical science. The ability to mend bones, even bones as broken as these, in a matter of days, even hours, would be phenomenal." 

Ryuji had to admit that it sounded terrifying, yet exciting at the same time. Being a part of making medical history would be pretty awesome, after all. Still, that high chance of Bad Consequences had him very worried. Akira seems to sense his apprehension, stepping closer to him to put a hand on his shoulder. 

"This is up to you. I hope this will go well, but if things turn south, I'm here. I'll be helping Dr. Takemi during the procedure." He glances at her for confirmation on this, to which she nods. "I'll do anything I can to make sure you do not die." 

Smiling weakly, Ryuji lifts his hand to place on top of Akira's on his shoulder. That hand quickly withdraws as if Ryuji's hand were burning. Frowning, he returns his hand to his lap while Akira looks at the floor with an unreadable expression. Then, Ryuji reaches over and puts a hand on his friend's arm, only earning a slight jolt. 

"Thanks man. That's super cool of you." Ryuji grins, honest and big. Akira relaxes a bit as well, sighing. Ryuji pats his arm a couple times to comfort his oddly tense friend. It was weird, he figured that he should be the one needing comforting seeing as he was the one who may or may not die within a few hours, but here he is comforting Akira. "Chill, I'll be fine. I trust you." 

At this, Akira looks up from the floor quickly to meet Ryuji's eyes, startled like the blonde just said something crazy. Though, technically, to Akira it was pretty crazy. The word "don't" played across the Phantom Thief's lips, but he said nothing. With an awkward cough, Akira stepped back and away from the hand on his arm, causing it to fall from where it was resting. 

"Right. Yeah. Sure." He plays with a bit of his hair, twirling the black curls in front of his face and averting his eyes. Ryuji just accepted this, leaning back, looking completely calm despite the way his heart was hammering and his mind was spinning. He was just going to sleep, possibly forever. No big deal. 

"Okay. If you're very sure about this, then I'll need you to sign this agreement. This states that you know full well of what may happen to you and that you consent to the possibilities. It's... I don't like to hand this to you but it cannot be avoided." Takemi hands Ryuji a clipboard with a piece of paper on it and a pen, frowning. Ryuji takes it without a second thought and signs his name, handing it back. Both Takemi and Akira look at him with mild surprise at his quickness to accept. "Uh. Okay then." She comments, blinking her momentary stupor away. 

It isn't too long before Ryuji is hooked up to machines and IVs, and Takemi approaches him with what must be a gas mask. Ryuji glances over at Akira, who gives him a fake smile and supportive thumbs up. The dark haired man looks pale. 

"Ready? You will be unconscious for the procedure, of course." Takemi explains how the gas mask works, asking for his consent three more times before holding it over his nose and mouth. "Okay now, just breathe normally and count to ten." 

Ryuji gets to 4 when he starts to feel panicky. He doesn't fight it though, merely looking between the two others in the room. Akira looks worried, and when he catches his eye, smiles weakly again. 

"Hey don't worry, we'll be here when you wake up." Akira says in an attempt to be comforting. Ryuji closes his eyes, focusing in on that "when" as he only counts up to 8 before the world fades around him. 

His consciousness drifts through the unknown, passing through the void of space like he was his own ship. Tiny specks of light surround him. Stars. As he floats, he bumps into them, sending the specs flying around him. He laments over the many solar systems he just destroyed. He realizes after a moment that he was breathing fine in space, despite being without a suit or anything. In fact, he was completely nude. Embarrassed, he hopes that nobody would be able to see him while he was in space. However, somehow, he knows that he is being looked at, observed through a telescope. He becomes the newest space phenomenon: that naked guy floating around in space. He has to suffer through interviews and autographs and people asking to take his picture while he just wanted to walk outside for a minute. For some reason he has to do all of this with no clothes still, like he couldn't get anything to wear once he was on planet again. 

The hazy dream fades out as Ryuji slowly slips back into consciousness. He can't feel his body and doesn't quite know where he is or if he was even real. Slowly he blinks his eyes open and sees a tangle of hair, the first thought coming to his mind was that there was a fluffy puppy laying next to him. Consciousness slowly returning to the rest of his body as well, he reaches a hand over to pet the black puppy with frizzy fur. It feels soft. 

The form he had his hand on lifts up, exposing a pale face blinking sleep from his eyes. It looks vaguely familiar, somehow. 

"You're alive." The face speaks, and Ryuji suddenly remembers everything, the voice grounding him into reality again. He smiles tiredly, keeping his hand in the soft curls on the other's head. 

"You worried about me." Ryuji accuses, and Akira gives him a wry smile. 

"Shuddup." He replies, not moving to remove Ryuji's hand from his hair. The sound of high heels click behind him, and the grey eyed male sits up and turns to greet the doctor. Ryuji's hand falls from his hair as the other moves, returning to its owner's side. 

"He's awake? Good, that's good. Does he seem cognizant of his surroundings?" Takemi asks, hovering over his shoulder to look at her patient. 

Akira hums, then holds up three fingers and asks Ryuji how many he's holding up. Ryuji responds easily, quirking an eyebrow in question as to why he was asking this. Akira turns to Takemi and nods. She nods back, scribbling something on the paper on her clipboard.

"How do you feel, Sakamoto? How is your leg?" She asks, looking up from the board at Ryuji. Yawning, Ryuji tries to feel his right leg, but he can't feel it. Panicked, he sits up to look down at himself, almost expecting to see that he was missing the limb. He finds that it was fine, wrapped in bandages and most importantly _straight_. He looks up at the doctor hopefully. 

"I can't feel it but is it fixed??" Ryuji's eyes are wide and almost pleading for a good response. Takemi nods, looking quite pleased with herself. 

"The numbness should wear off soon, I should presume. I would say that the procedure was a success. You will have some terrible scarring and bruising for a while, but the bones are back in place. I should say you will be able to stand on it by tomorrow, though I don't suggest putting too much weight there for a while." 

Ryuji grins, so excited that tears begin to form in the corners of his eyes. Even Takemi is a little flustered by the sunshiny look coming from the man's face, not sure how to respond to such unbridled joy. 

"For real?! God damn, thank you! This is the best! I knew it would work! I knew it!" Ryuji had to resist jumping up or punching her on the arm. Instead, he released his energy in a bright laugh that filled the room. He seemed to sober up a bit after that, laying back down with his hands folded over his stomach. "What do I owe you? Besides my entire effin' life, I mean." 

"I'll take care of the payment, Ryuji." Akira cuts in before anything else could be said. Ryuji looks at him with surprise, then admiration. 

"For real? You don't gotta do that, man. Seriously, why would you?" Ryuji thinks about it for a moment, and while he appreciated the offer, there was no way he could allow Akira to pay for him. He opens his mouth to continue to shut the other down when Akira cuts him off. 

"I just am. Don't worry about it, you can pay me back some other time." Akira was stern about this, but also gave Ryuji a gentle smile to convince him to give in. 

"Y-yeah, okay. I'll pay you back. No prob." Ryuji accepts the help, already thinking of any way he could plausibly match this kind of kindness. Akira turns to Takemi then, looking a lot less confident and smiley. Takemi met his eyes and smiled warmly, though Ryuji didn't trust that smile in the slightest. 

"Sakamoto, you get your rest. I'm sure you must be tired after being unconscious for three hours." Takemi smirks teasingly, but Ryuji nods. He was actually feeling tired, truth be told. His body had been through a lot during those hours whether or not he was awake. 

"Yes ma'am." The blonde agrees, closing his eyes and laying back to get more comfortable. He feels someone pull a sheet up to his chin and he smiles softly, not bothering to see who it was. 

Meanwhile, Akira took his time tucking Ryuji in to avoid what was waiting for him in the exam room. Some concoction or another, he's sure. Taking a deep breath, he follows Takemi in, hoping his strong constitution was still as good as it was years ago when she tested on him. 

"You know, you always were pretty self sacrificial." Takemi startles him out of his anxious thoughts. He looks up at her with a noise of confusion. She smiles fondly. "I'm assuming you aren't taking care of that boy out of obligation. Of course, you also didn't need to help anyone here during your time here. Only a few years and you left quite the impression in this city." He takes a seat as she gets together a sample of something for him to try. 

"Well. It's not like I've done that much." Akira responds, bashfully looking at his feet. True, he had been helpful around the area despite his initial intentions of being distant. Takemi gives him an incredulous look but continues to fill a small cup with a liquid. She then turns and hands it to him. 

"Here, all in one gulp, you know the drill." Takemi leans back against her desk and watches eagerly as he downs the cup. She picks up her clipboard and watches him for a moment. "Now, how do you feel?" 

\---

When Ryuji wakes up again, it's because of a pain in his leg. Wincing, he sits up and frowns, reaching down to poke his limb. It turns out this is a bad idea, unsurprisingly, as he yelps at the sudden pain. After a moment of silence, he touches his leg again, though gentler. His face screws up in pain as he examines how it feels, startled when the door opens. 

"Careful, your face could get stuck like that." Akira teases as he enters the room, smirking. His face seemed flushed and his steps had a bit of unbalance to them, which struck Ryuji as odd. He only thought it odder when Takemi came in behind him scribbling thoughtfully across a clipboard. 

"How do you feel, has feeling returned to your limb?" The doctor asks, not looking up from her notes. 

"Hell yeah, it hurts. But I guess that's good?" Ryuji looks at his leg curiously, hoping that it was indeed good. Takemi hums in agreement. 

"It should be good. Should mean that it's healing. I can give you some simple painkillers, though I don't know how much they will help." 

"Eh, I'll take it." Ryuji replies, soon accepting the two little pills and water she offers to him. She steps back and looks at the clock. 

"Well, I suppose you should be allowed to leave now. If anything turns up, you can come back any time." Takemi pats Akira on the shoulder, startling him into waking up from where he fell asleep upright in his seat. 

"Yeah. Thanks. Come on Ryuji, you good?" Akira rubs his eyes and yawns, standing up and offering a hand. Ryuji looks at him suspiciously, not sure if he could trust the guy to hold him up when he can barely stay awake. Regardless, he accepts and takes his crutches to go with Akira. He doesn't say anything to him until they leave the clinic. 

"Hey, what kinda 'payment' did you have to give her?" Ryuji smirks a little and elbows him. "You seem pretty tired out. Wasn't something too... physically draining, was it?" He raises an eyebrow suggestively, but Akira doesn't seem to take notice of the implications. 

"It's confidential." Akira yawns. "But I help test her medicine. This one was apparently supposed to give me more energy, and it did for a few minutes, but then it totally drained it." He sighs with relief. "I was expecting something a lot worse than that, honestly. She went easy on me because I've been away for so long, I'm sure." 

"Oh yeah, she did call you her guinea pig didn't she." Ryuji frowns. "Why'd you ever agree to that? Isn't that like, dangerous?" Akira laughs negatively. 

"Of course it is. But if I wanted to fix Morgana up properly I needed money to do it, and she agreed to pay me for it. She also let me get medicines easily, which really helped uh, a friend of mine." Akira looks off to the side like he was hesitant to say more about this friend of his. Ryuji didn't seem to catch onto the unhappiness of the subject. 

"Oh come on, you've gotta tell me more now! Don't leave me hangin', who was this friend and why'd they need medicine?" Ryuji looked eager like he was in for a fun story. Akira just frowned and sighed. 

"I want to go visit someone first." Akira responds, avoiding the question smoothly. Ryuji frowns in frustration, but let's it go. The curiosity of who they were visiting now was too strong. 

"Sure! I can meet 'em too, yeah?" Ryuji tilts his head, and Akira feels a small smirk threatening his lips. 

"Of course, numbnuts. You think I was just going to make you stand out in the street and wait?" He looks at Ryuji and sees the answer in his eyes. The guy certainly did expect to be left outside. Frowning, Akira looks away. "Well, I'm not." 

The pair come across a storefront that stands out against the dull grays of the street. Warm light seemed to emanate from the windows and lively plants sat outside. Akira turns and stops before the door, taking a deep breath. Ryuji bites his lip, waiting for the other to go in first, but Akira remains still, clearly nervous as he reaches up to fiddle with his hair and adjust his glasses. 

"You gonna go in sometime this century, bro?" Ryuji snaps the fidgety guy out of his nervousness. Akira breathes out what he was holding in and grabs the handle of the door, swinging it open with a gentle jingling of bells. Ryuji follows and lets the door shut behind him. 

There were a lot less people in the cafe than he had expected, and he wondered why such a comfortable looking place got so little business. In fact, he could only see one person sitting at a table and reading off a tablet. Besides that guy, there was the man behind the counter with the grumpy face. Ryuji starts to think he understands why this place got so little business, looking at that unfriendly mug. But even as he thinks this, the man's face changes when he actually looks at Akira, eyes widening and mouth dropping open slightly. 

"You're... back?" The man says, clearly befuddled. Akira rubs the back of his neck and shrugs. The man smirks wide, and while it didn't look like a normal friendly smile, Ryuji could tell that it was meant to show happiness, not sass like it suggests. He walks around the counter, putting down the coffee cup he was idly rubbing with a towel as he steps towards Akira. He claps a hand onto the boy's shoulder, and Akira tilts his head up to meet his eyes with a small smile.  
"It's good to see ya, kid." 

Akira nods his response as the man gestures towards the barstools at the counter and walks back to start looking through a collection of different beans. Akira takes his seat easily, like he was used to just sliding into the stool. Ryuji follows his lead, wincing when he tries to balance on his bad leg and accidentally putting too much weight on it. He manages to get into the chair without injury though, thankfully. 

"Here, let me get you two something. On the house, of course. But just for today, if you're planning on staying, you won't get to freeload just 'cause you've been gone for so long." He pulls together his choice of beans and starts making the coffee. "You still take yours with just a bit of cream and sugar, right?" Once again, Akira nods silently. Ryuji draws his eyebrows together wondering why the other was suddenly so silent again. He didn't seem to be uncomfortable, just weirdly mute all of a sudden. 

The sound of the coffee being made and the smell in the air has Ryuji feeling a little light headed. Perhaps it was just tiredness from the operation, but he felt safe, like he could sleep right here. The man's voice doesn't register at first in Ryuji's mind, but the second and more annoyed words catches his attention. 

"Hey, I asked you how you like your coffee." His voice was stern, and a little intimidating. Ryuji almost didn't respond, not wanting to tell the truth out of appearing rude, but also not wanting to have to pretend to like the drink to be polite. 

"I uh, actually don't like coffee very much. At all..." he chuckles nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. The man sighs in annoyance, like this was just too much of a hassle. A sharp elbow in Ryuji's side makes the boy yelp and turn to the culprit. Akira was looking at him with eyes that said "trust me on this."

"Just try it, this is the best coffee in the known universe." Akira says seriously, with conviction that he was absolutely right. The man behind the counter snorts. 

"Don't try and flatter me, that won't get you any points. Oh, and I'll make yours a sweeter blend, uhh..." the man looks towards Ryuji with questioning. 

"Ryuji. Ryuji Sakamoto. You can just call me Ryuji though, any friend of this guy is a friend of mine." Ryuji beams and sticks out a hand for the other to shake. The man smirks again, raising an eyebrow as he takes Ryuji's hand and shakes it firmly. 

"Sojiro. Sojiro Sakura. You're friends with Akira then, I take it?" The man, Sojiro, lets go of his hand after two good shakes and returns to coffee making business. Ryuji opens his mouth to happily respond, but Akira beats him to it. 

"Yeah, something like that." The distance in Akira's tone hurts Ryuji's heart a little. Something like that?? He thought they were friends. Period. Not something like friends. Frowning, Ryuji slumps into his seat further. "How have things been around here, Boss? How's Futaba doing?" 

Sojiro's movements still for a moment before he continues like nothing happened. 

"Things have been mostly the same since you left. People around here have been missing you. And as for Futaba, I couldn't be prouder. She not only got accepted into a prestigious school, but they actually _asked_ her to come. So, she's off and learning and thriving all on her own." A sad smile crosses Sojiro's face. "She's come such a long way, no doubt thanks to you. But ah, I'm not going to get all sentimental on you. Here, careful not to burn yourselves on the cups. I shouldn't have to tell you they're hot." Sojiro slides two steaming cups of coffee towards the two sitting at the counter. Akira nods his head in thanks, a happy smile on his face. Ryuji thanks the man as well, though his mind was still caught up wondering about the details of what the other two were talking about. 

"That's good to hear, I'm glad she's doing well. Though, damn, I kinda wished she'd be around to say hello." Akira laughs sadly, blowing on his coffee to cool it down before taking a sip, wincing as it was still a little too hot for his mouth. 

"Yeah, it's weird now without her around. For so long she had been isolating herself, but when she came out of her room and started socializing, it was like a brighter light started shining around here. I guess I had grown used to having her around and bugging me for food all the time. Speaking of which, I've had a habit of making too much curry in preparation for her to want more during dinner. So, would you two like to have dinner with this lonely old man?" He laughs a little bit self depreciatively. Ryuji's stomach growls at the mention of curry, at the mention of normal food at all really, but curry was sounding exceptionally good. Thankfully, Akira accepts the invitation and Ryuji's stomach twists in appreciation for the chance to get a real meal again. 

When he sips the coffee, Ryuji does his best to not make a face at the lingering bitterness. Though, the more he sipped, the better it became. The warm liquid seemed to spread through his body, and he looked over towards Akira to find the man with his eyes closed and smiling with contentment. His shoulders were relaxed and he looked quite comfortable. Ryuji decides that anything that could make the impenetrable fortress of Akira Kurusu show any form of weakness is a formidable power. 

He takes another sip of his sweet coffee, the bitterness actually contrasting nicely now that he's had more. Ryuji silently wonders just how much it would take to break a hole in that impenetrable fortress himself to sneak in and stand by the real Akira's side. With another sip of coffee spreading warmth down to his toes, he decides to be patient to get closer to Akira and see his true self whenever Akira was ready to be seen. He could wait, he would wait no matter how long it takes just to see that content smile again. 

God, Ryuji is so screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell that I don't know shit about anatomy or medicine or science? Yeah? Okay, oh well. just don't pay attention to that, this fic isn't about the correct ways to actually heal broken bones, nor is it about explaining how whaterver concoction Takemi came up with works. It's about space gays being gay in space. Err, space bisexuals. But that doesn't have the same ring to it.  
> Leave comments if you want, I always enjoy reading them! Thanks!


	8. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home is where the best curry is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaah hello it's been so long since I've updated this but here it is! I've been writing this chapter on and off for ages and finally I'm satisfied and finished! I hope it's enjoyable, it's basically some domestic-ish relax times so it's curious as to why it took me so long to write but whatever. Enjoy!

Ryuji cannot express exactly how much he appreciates this man named Sojiro Sakura. With his first bite of homemade curry, he could cry. And he does cry, a little, the tears sliding down his cheeks with a sniffle. Sojiro looks concerned, raising an eyebrow. 

"You alright there? Did I make it too spicy?" He tastes his own food and looks even more curious. 

"No, no. It's just... really good." Ryuji amends as soon as he no longer had a mouthful of food. He wipes his face off with the back of his arm and grins. Akira gives him a look with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, and Ryuji finds it weird how fond it is. "It's really really good, Boss. Thanks!" 

"Ehh, you won't get anywhere with flattery, kid." Sojiro responds, though he does look happy about the compliment. 

"I get _everywhere_ with flattery, Boss. How do you think I met this guy?" Ryuji jabs his thumb at Akira who was quietly eating and listening to the others. 

"He wooed me." Akira says, complete monotone voice and serious expression. It takes a moment, but then the table flows with laughter, warm and familiar. The dinner continued amicably, Ryuji feeling welcome and Akira feeling comforted by being... home. 

The conversation was light and sprinkled with serious questions from Sojiro. The old man asked if Akira was really so easily won over, joking, yet still curious. Akira reassured him that any wooing would only ever be done by himself. When the subject of Akira's whereabouts came up, Ryuji makes sure to keep his mouth shut. Akira attempts to redirect the conversation but Sojiro is too perceptive. 

"Hey, you look awfully dirty. And aren't those Alliance uniform pants?" Sojiro leans towards Ryuji and stares him down. The young man's eyes widen with surprise and fear. Akira tenses. 

"N-no..." Ryuji pathetically lies, the style of their uniform was rather unique after all. The escapee had hoped that his brightly colored graphic t-shirt would have distracted enough from the pants. 

"I used to work for the government, kid. I know what the uniforms look like." Sojiro smirked smugly, taking a moment of satisfaction from the terror in Ryuji's brown eyes and the quiet discomfort in Akira's. "Are you a deserter?" The man asks casually, as if he was asking Ryuji to tell him the time. Ryuji in return is anything but casual. Before the blonde can get himself in trouble because of his panic, Akira responds. 

"Yes. He is. Are you going to report us, Sir?" Akira spoke with perfect confidence, putting any confusion or lies away to just lay it all out clearly. Sojiro huffed out a chuckle and sat back, relaxed. 

"I won't report you. But I'm not going to be your scape goat if things go poorly and you get in trouble. Take care of yourselves, got it?" Sojiro stares the boys down and the two respond in unison with a "yessir." 

Conversation continues easily as their plates clear of food. Once Ryuji was done, he leans back with a drawn out sigh and pats his stomach. 

"Ahh, that was the best meal I've had in _ages_! Thanks, seriously!" Ryuji grins thankfully at Sojiro, who responds with a smirk and a mock-exasperated shake of his head. The blonde considers asking for seconds, but knows that it would probably just make him explode. He was nearly filled to bursting as is, but the feeling of a full stomach of good food was exquisite. 

The three chat for a while even after they finish eating, relaxing and just enjoying the company. Ryuji can't help but think about how cute Akira looked while talking to Sojiro, even though it was clear the tough and suave Phantom Thief was trying to cover his emotions up. Somehow, the way Akira's mouth twitched at the corners whenever he fought a smile just made him cuter. Ryuji finds himself just staring as the other two catch up, quietly admiring his friend's face. His gaze went unnoticed for a while, but Akira does eventually look at him. Confusion crosses his grey eyes. 

"Uh, earth to Ryuji?" He asks, using the archaic phrase from the earth that was. "What're you staring at, buddy?" Akira questions him again, and Ryuji falls into a bit of panic. _Crap, I've been caught staring like a total creep!_

"Just watchin' your face." The blonde responds without thinking, immediately filled with regret for his honesty. Akira actually looks a little taken aback, totally surprised by this answer. His face even flushes a bit. 

Sojiro looks between the two of them thoughtfully, conclusions popping into his head as they interact in front of him. 

"Well I know I'm gorgeous but come on." Akira fiddles with a bit of his hair. A knowing smile crosses Sojiro's face. 

"That's not why I was starin', you freakin' weirdo! I just like seein' the way you smile." Ryuji digs himself into deeper grave and Akira's face turns a deeper shade of red. 

"Oh." He starts, speechless. Then, Akira clears his throat into his fist and fixes Ryuji with a sassy look, one eyebrow raised and a smirk and everything. "And you called _me_ the weirdo?" 

With a deep sigh, Sojiro stands up and collects the dishes, having had enough of the two's obvious yet oblivious flirting. At this, the two look up at Sojiro, their conversation being blessedly brought to an end. 

"You two are ridiculous. I'm goin' to bed." Sojiro grumbles as he takes the plates into the kitchen. Ryuji and Akira just look at each other with the same confused expression and a silent question. _What the hell does he mean, "ridiculous?"_ The old man comes back into the room and sighs, sliding his hand back over the top of his hair to smooth it down. 

"Hey, you two. You can stay in the attic of the cafe for the night. Here's the keys, kid. Just make sure to give 'em back before you leave." Sojiro tosses the key to Akira who catches it without difficulty. "And don't mess anything up, or I might just have to turn you in." Ryuji feels his heart skip nervously until he sees Sojiro wink. Once again, Ryuji feels appreciation for this man. 

"Wow, thanks!" The blonde grins, the gratitude seeming to surprise the older man. Even Akira looks at him with a soft expression, lips quirked up in a barely-there smile. 

"Thank you, Sojiro." Akira nods in agreement with Ryuji. Sojiro looks at the both of them and lets out a single "heh" laugh. 

"It's not a problem. I've been using the attic for storage again so it's all a mess. There's nothing on the bed or the worktable though." The man stretches and cracks his back. "Now go on, I'm going to bed now and I need to lock up behind you. Don't get lost on the way to the cafe." 

The two nod in unison and are ushered out of the Sakura residence. Once on the street again, the two set off towards LeBlanc. Ryuji fiddled with the bottom of his shirt as they walked, then ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh as he finds that it's all greasy. 

"I guess there's no shower in the cafe, huh." He grumbles as they step up to the door of LeBlanc. Akira stops suddenly and Ryuji nearly walks straight into him. "Huh?" 

"There's no shower, but there's a bathhouse across the street." Akira points into a thin looking alley illuminated only by the yellowish light coming from the laundromat along the side. 

"A bathhouse?! Like with real hot water and a _bath_?" Ryuji doesn't seem to care about the dimly lit area. Hell, it could be pitch black and he would go in if it meant he got a real bath. 

"Well yes I'd imagine it would have a bath, lest it be a pretty shitty _bath_ house." Akira smirks teasingly and Ryuji punches him on the shoulder playfully. 

"Oh shut up, I get it; that was a dumb question. But like, dude, is it open?" Ryuji's enthusiasm doesn't dwindle in the slightest. Akira can't help but find himself smiling. 

"Does it matter if it's open? We could just break in if its closed." Akira points out blithely, and Ryuji follows him towards the door hesitantly. 

"Uh, what if we get caught?" Ryuji lowered his voice into a whisper even though there was nobody around. Akira can't help but roll his eyes at the terrible whispering, knowing that anyone with ears would hear them well enough the same as if they were talking normally. 

"We won't get caught." Akira smirks, opening the door and stepping into it partially. "But that doesn't matter. It's open anyway." Then the black haired smug son-of-a-cock continues into the building without another word. Ryuji follows a second later. 

"Do we haveta pay or anything? I kinda left all my money behind when I bolted." Ryuji scratches the back of his head and follows Akira up to an old man at the counter. He wonders if the guy is even alive as he sits perfectly still, but when Akira approaches, he lifts his head up in greeting. Akira slides a handful of money across the table that he pulled from his pocket. Ryuji opens his mouth to reassert that he doesn't have anything to pay with, but the other just moves on and gestures Ryuji to follow. "You didn't have to pay for me, man..." he protests, but Akira smirks at him when as they enter an empty locker room. 

"You can't pay for yourself, and you need a bath." Akira points out as he finds a locker and starts taking off his jacket. Ryuji blinks at him in dumb confusion until he sees the other start taking his shirt off. _Oh. Right. Bath._ He shakes his head to clear the weird daze he was in before undressing as well and just donning a towel. He shoves his stuff into one of the lockers and turns towards the other. Akira was leaning up against the wall of lockers watching Ryuji lazily. Their eyes meet for a second before Akira pushes off the wall with a clanking noise from the metal doors and gestures Ryuji to follow. 

They enter a steamy area filled with the scent of tranquility. There was a large bath with a wheel to adjust the water's temperature on the far wall. Though, thinking about it, it would probably be better for the handle to be on the closer side so people could turn it without having to wade across the bath to get there. Distracted by his pondering, Ryuji didn't notice when his friend sank into the water with a soft content sigh. That being said, when he _does_ notice it, he also notices the towel folded nicely nearby, and realizes that the other guy was totally completely naked under that water. He isn't sure why that flusters him, though. Ryuji has been in locker rooms before all the time, seen his fair share of nude dudes, so this should be no different. It's not like Akira has anything he hasn't seen before. Right? Ryuji's imagination runs with this train of thought, and he decides that it was definitely time to stop thinking about naked anything. 

"You gonna get in or are you gonna stand there and stare at the water all night." Akira's voice catches Ryuji out of his inner thoughts, flustered. Now, he stares less mindlessly at Akira. The guy was lounging against the edge of the tub as if it was his couch, arms outstretched and resting on the rim. He had a raised eyebrow and the tiniest of smirks. Ryuji rubs the back of his neck with a chuckle and goes to remove his towel and get in. He hesitates. Akira was still blithely looking at him, and while Ryuji isn't especially ashamed or shy about his body usually, the other's gaze had a way of always unnerving him. Especially now since the dumbass _wasn't looking away._

Ryuji shakes this off. He has to ask himself silently what the hell his problem is. Yet, he continues to hesitate under Akira's relaxed gaze. He fiddles with the top of his towel and watches the other's grey eyes flick down quickly before back up at his face. Ryuji tries to silently communicate with a pained look that he wanted Akira to at least close his eyes or turn around or something. The shameless phantom thief doesn't get the message. 

He has no choice now; Ryuji was just gonna do it. There was no reason for it to have to be weird since he's changed around so many other guys before that he's sure at least half of the recruits have seen more than they should've. But they at least didn't leave it so obvious that they were looking. It was stupid, Ryuji has no reason to be embarrassed, but who wouldn't get antsy with someone watching them undress? Still, Ryuji didn't want to let that bring him down. So, he carelessly drops his towel and quickly gets into the water. 

Every thought about embarrassment or nudity or anything is thrown directly out the window as he steps into the tub. 

"Ahh, holy shit, hot water..." Ryuji breathes out, letting his thoughts be spoken aloud. "It's been too freakin' long since I last had enough hot water to do anything with. This is increeeeedible." He leans his head back against the rim of the tub as he lets his body get used to the burn of the hot water. 

"Right? This was the best idea." Akira has a relaxed smile on his face with his eyes closed. It might just be the atmosphere, but Ryuji can swear that the look is contagious. "If you let me fall asleep and drown I'll haunt you." 

"Don't fall asleep then, dumbass." Ryuji counters with a smirk as he closes his eyes too. They fall into a comfortable silence, the smooth voice of the water flowing from the spigot and filling the tub. The aches in his limbs seem to disappear with each passing second as he allows himself to sink further into the water until it rests just under his chin. He sighs through his nose and feels the water ripple in front of him. It's all so comforting. This whole day has been rather exceptionally good. Sojiro's curry, his mostly healed leg, and now this bath? What did he do to deserve so many good things at once?

A sudden splash of water runs down his face from the top of his head, making Ryuji jolt out of his dreamlike state. He turns to look at the culprit: Akira with his hands still raised above Ryuji's head. 

"Dude! The eff?!" He glares menacingly as Akira retracts his hands. The culprit is smug and does not look guilty in the slightest. 

"You looked like you were falling asleep." Akira responds as if it were obvious. 

"So you had to dump water on my head?!" 

Akira doesn't respond, just sits back and smirks. A need for justice boils up within Ryuji. Either that or the need for revenge. Revenge, definitely, he thinks as he scoops up as much water he can to throw at the cocky bastard next to him. It catches Akira off guard just enough to splash him, but not surprising enough to keep him from retaliating immediately. 

The calm of the bath is ruined as the two devolve into children, waging a splash war. Heads are dunked under the water, the floor outside of the tub gets all wet, the towels they had sitting next to the tub also get wet. Just a few of many casualties. 

Ryuji is the first to fold, holding up a hand to call for time out as he coughs up some water he accidentally inhaled. Akira stops, but doesn't look very concerned with a victorious, cocky smirk. Ryuji glares but is unable to keep the grin off his face even as he continues coughing. 

"Shitlord! Fine, fine! I yield I yield!" He calls out with a rough sounding voice followed by more coughs. 

"Good, I wouldn't want that to become a splash battle to the death. You good?" Akira raises an eyebrow curiously. Ryuji flaps his hand at him dismissively in response. 

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Geez, don't sound too concerned." The blonde sarcastically comments on Akira's uncaring tone and expression with an eye roll. The other just laughs cheerfully, a contagious sound that has the peaceful room filled with mirth from the both of them. Any tension was dissipated, and Ryuji could swear that he feels like he's spending time with a close friend that he's had for ages. 

They relax quietly for a little longer until the threat of falling asleep becomes a real possibility, then they finish up with washing and get out. Their towels had both gotten soaked during their battle, so they leave them be in their watery grave in search of fresh dry towels instead. Ryuji feels a little bad for whoever has to clean this place up, but then again he figures that it's probably completely normal for a bath house to get very wet, so it shouldn't be a problem. 

In the locker room after they both dried off well enough, Ryuji looks down at his clothes with a forlorn expression. It isn't like he has anything else to wear, but it seriously sucks that he has to put on dirty clothes after getting nice and clean. He looks over towards Akira to share his pain, but finds that the other had already changed into his old clothes without hesitation. Akira meets his eyes as he pauses from drying his hair with the towel, curious. 

"Are you gonna get dressed or are you a nudist now?" He teases, though the question sounds completely serious. 

"Oh shut up! It's just- it totally sucks to have to put on dirty clothes after a nice bath, right?" Ryuji still complains even if it seems Akira doesn't mind all that much. 

"I guess." He responds and shrugs unhelpfully before continuing to ruffle his hair dry with his towel. Ryuji groans and rolls his eyes and starts to get dressed. A deep frown sets on his face as he pulls his clothes on. Akira takes notice of his expression and tilts his towards him. "Is it that bad? Hey, I'm sure there still spare clothes in the attic, you can put something from there on when we get back if you want. Though they might be all dusty, actually." 

"I'll take it, thanks man!" Ryuji flashes a bright grin that Akira can't help but to respond with a small smile of his own. The look only makes Ryuji grin wider. "Ok cmon, lets go get some sleep." The two could definitely agree on that, so they leave the bath quietly so as to not disturb the sleeping old man where they paid. Ryuji has to wonder what time the place closes because he can't imagine that old guy minds the place all the time. 

After Akira slips the key Sojiro gave him into the lock of the door, the two tired guys shuffle in accompanied by a cheerful jingle of the bell. Akira locks the door behind them and then beelines for the stairs at the back of the shop. Ryuji follows without hesitation, stepping up into the attic room moments behind the other. It's clear that the place had been neglected for a while; a dead plant in the corner, clutter strewn about, boxes of varying shapes and sizes poorly organized to leave little space for walking. Underneath the mess Ryuji can see a desk, a couple of shelves, the bed, and a couch. The only thing that wasn't covered in junk is the bed, which Ryuji eyes longingly. Akira takes notice of the look in Ryuji's eyes and sighs. There was definitely no way Akira would settle for sleeping on the old couch that was never very comfortable to begin with, and he's sure that Ryuji wouldn't appreciate it much either. So, that leaves one solution. 

"We have to duel to see who claims the bed." Akira announces blankly. Ryuji looks at him in confusion and then sudden realization. He holds his hands up to wave in front of him to say no. 

"Huh? Oh, nah man, it's cool. I mean, this is your place and everythin'. Or, it was your place. But yeah, I can just lay on the floor or like, a booth seat downstairs." The blond tries to keep smiling reassuringly, but he still winces a bit at his sleeping suggestions. Akira's eyes widen and his eyebrows raise above the thick frames of his glasses. With his hair all wet and messy, it's easy to see Akira's forehead that is usually hidden behind his fluffy bangs. 

"You're kidding?" The thief says in disbelief. "You'd sleep on the _floor_ so I could take the bed? Oh, and trust me, the booths downstairs are not very comfortable for sleeping on." Ryuji rubs the back of his neck with an shy sort of smile.

"Oh, so then-" 

"And I was kidding about fighting for it, dumbass. I was actually, uh," Akira shuffles his feet and looks solidly at the bed, "I was thinkin' that it's probably big enough for two people, so if you promise not to kill me in my sleep, or take all my stuff and run, then-" 

"We would share?" Ryuji finishes the idea for his friend, getting right to the point where Akira was meandering. The other sighs and nods his head softly. 

"Yeah. Don't make me regret it." Grey eyes narrow behind roundish glasses and Ryuji has to hold his hands up in surrender. 

"Got it!" He laughs nervously before looking around the room. "Sooo, you said something about clothes?" Akira's tense posture eases at the reminder and he goes to the shelves by the stairs to start opening boxes. Eventually he finds one that he starts digging through until he finds an old tracksuit and white undershirt. Ryuji takes them with gratefulness, but eyes the warm looking jacket and pants. Akira catches his pensive expression and chuckles a little. 

"You don't have to sleep in all that. Do whatever you're most comfortable with," he says, turning to go make the bed look less like a stage prop for a haunted house. Ryuji decides to forego the pants and jacket and just take the undershirt and boxers he found folded in the pile. He decides that he can deal with wearing another guy's underwear if it means clean clothes. At least they fit, though are a little tight on him. It would make sense; these are from when Akira was younger and on top of that he looks slimmer than Ryuji. 

By the time he is done changing, Akira has finished making the bed look comfortable and already has face-planted into it. He holds up a thumbs up before rolling to the far side of the bed and shuffling under the sheets. Ryuji looks around for the lights to turn them off, and once he succeeds, he is relived to find enough light bleeding through the window to allow him to see his way to the bed. He sighs gratefully as he sinks under the blankets, warm and cozy. 

"Sleep well, Ryuji." Akira's voice is muffled since he is turned away from the other and pressed into the wall. The blond smiles warmly and closes his eyes, shimmying into a comfortable position before replying. 

"Yeah. You too, man." He yawns and presses his face into the stale smelling but comfortable pillow. "Thanks for helpin' me so much. I can't even begin to tell you how great it is." Akira grunts a soft acknowledgment of Ryuji's words but doesn't respond otherwise. The blond can't keep the content smile off of his face as he starts to drift off. "I'm really glad to be by your side, Akira," he mumbles, sleep starting to overtake him. Akira does not respond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I love to hear opinions and thoughts! I promise things will pick up next chapter major-plot-wise, these two just needed to fricken bathe okay. Dirty spaceboys. Anyways thanks for reading as always :D

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting around for a while honestly, I wasn't sure if I should post it. But then I said ehh fuckit lets do it. So yeah, comments and kudos are much appreciated! very much appreciated,,,


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